NEWS

Edinburgh Reforms Welcomed By Challenger Banking APPG

09/12/2022 Categories: News admin

Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, Chair of the APPG on Challenger Banks and Building Societies has welcomed reports the Government plans to relax ringfencing of challenger banks.

The move, which was called for by the APPG in their recent report on Levelling Up, published last year, is a welcome step that will free up many smaller financial institutions from unnecessary regulation, boost the economy, and bring more competition into the UK’s banking sector.

Commenting on the steps being taken by the Treasury, Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP, Chair of the APPG on Challenger Banks and Building Societies, said:

“We called for a ‘Big Bang’ of financial services regulations in our Levelling Up report and it is great to see the Government has taken heed of the suggestions of APPG.  Reform in the UK is long overdue with most of the Big Six having held their dominant positions in UK banking for a century or more.  No other industry in the UK is characterised by such inertia.

“There is so much talent and innovation in the UK financial services sector outside the so-called ‘Big 6 banks’ that is held back by over-burdensome regulation restricting their ability to grow and complete.  The existing regulation effectively acts as a subsidy for big banks making competition impossible.

“This move will be welcomed by challenger banks,  building societies and especially mid-tier banking institutions.  However,  there is more that the Government can do as well and I would urge Jeremy Hunt and his team to take a close look at all our recommendations, from lifting the MREL threshold to introducing financial education at primary schools.”

ENDS.

 

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