The Government has published its response to its consultation on cross cutting reforms as part of the Financial Services Growth and Competitiveness Strategy. It has confirmed that it will:
- legislate to set the shorter deadlines within which regulators must determine authorisation, VOP and SMF applications as proposed, but also shorten several other related deadline, such as for financial promotion approvals, SMCR variations and determining applications for requirements imposed by the regulators;
- require the PRA and the FCA to produce new long-term strategies at least once every 5 years – and will require them to have regard to remit letters and regulatory and supervisory principles when producing these, but remove the requirement for them to consider these on a day-to-day basis; and
- legislate to remove a range of reporting and consultation requirements which do not add much value – including removing the FCA’s obligation to consult on guidance and removing several requirements currently placed on the regulators themselves.
It also noted that some of its proposals are already being taken forward, such as the plans for the provisional licence regime, and is pleased that the regulators have taken the initiative to aim for shorter approval periods while they wait for the legislative change.