UK Government to revoke EU financial regulations

May 12, 2022 12:00:00 AM

What has happened?

In May 2022, the UK Government announced its plans to revoke EU financial services compliance regulations and replace them with UK-specific new rules. In the Queen’s Speech made on 10th May, it was announced that the Government would bring in new legislation intended to strengthen the UK’s financial services industry and to ensure it acts “in the interest of all people and communities”. This is intended to be achieved through a new Financial Services and Markets Bill which will be introduced in the coming year.

What are the key points of the announcement?

The Government has said the main benefits of the Bill would consist of “cutting red tape” to make the UK a more attractive place to invest and do business while maintaining high standards.

As well as revoking retained EU law, the Government has said the Bill will update the objectives of the financial services regulators to “ensure a greater focus on growth and international competitiveness” and will reform the rules that regulate the UK’s capital markets to promote investment.

The UK Government is to introduce new legislation to protect access to cash and to require banks to refund victims of authorised push payment (APP) fraud. The Bill will “ensure the continued availability of withdrawal and deposit facilities across the UK, and that the country’s cash infrastructure is sustainable for the long term“. The Bill will also enable the Payment Systems Regulator to require banks to reimburse authorised push payment scam losses.

The Government will also introduce a new economic crime and corporate transparency Bill which will introduce identity verification for people who manage, own and control companies and other UK registered entities. This will be aimed at improving the accuracy of Companies House data, to support business decisions and law enforcement investigations.

The Bill will also provide Companies House with more effective investigation and enforcement powers and will introduce better cross-checking of data with other public and private sector bodies.

The Government is planning to introduce a Data Protection Bill, “superseding and repealing things that have been done under the EU”. Currently, the UK’s data protection legislation is based on the retained EU law version of the EU’s GDPR. The Government ran a consultation on a “new direction” for data in late 2021, and it expects to publish its response to the consultation in spring 2022, before it introduces a Bill.

The speech also included a “Brexit freedoms bill” to end the special domestic legal status of EU law and make it easier to amend or remove retained EU law.

How can we help you?

If you’d like to know more about how we can help you with your regulatory approach, anti-financial crime measures, data protection arrangements or any other regulatory compliance issues, our specialist team is here to help.

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