King’s Speech confirms promised regulatory reforms

The King’s Speech, given on 13 May, was expected to cover several of the regulatory reforms already consulted on. While not all the development were mentioned in the speech itself, the Briefing notes accompanying it confirmed measures including:

• a new Enhancing Financial Services Bill which will deliver key parts of the Leeds reforms and cover among other things:
  • merging of the PSR into the FCA;
  • redress reforms;
  • SMCR reforms (the aspiration is to reduce burdens by 50%;
  • ringfencing reform;
  • shortening of regulatory deadlines for assessment of applications;
  • expansion of rules that will mean more people can become members of credit unions
• digital ID; and
• rules for B2B payments.