HISTORIC PRESS RELEASE : An Independent and Accountable FSA [December 2001]
The press release issued by HM Treasury on 13 December 2001.
Chancellor Gordon Brown today announced how he will ensure that the Financial Services Authority, now operating under its full powers, is properly accountable to the Government, to Parliament and to the wider public.
Gordon Brown, said:
“As the independent regulator of financial services, it is vital that the FSA is fully accountable in order to maintain confidence in financial services. Setting up a single financial regulator has great advantages for business and for consumers. The FSA is independent of government, but it is important that the FSA and its Board can be called to account by both the Government and Parliament, and fully recognises the interests of all its stakeholders.
I am therefore setting out today how I propose to use my legislative powers so that we can all be satisfied that the FSA is meeting its objectives and that the accountability process works as effectively as possible.
Now that the FSA has assumed its full powers, I and the Chairman of the FSA have set out explicitly how the FSA will keep the Government informed of regulatory cases with serious and wider implications.”
Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of the FSA, welcoming the letter from the Chancellor, said:
“We attach great importance to being an open, transparent and accountable regulator. The Chancellor’s letter sets out clearly in public the respective roles and responsibilities of the FSA and the Government and how we will account for our actions to the public and Parliament.”
The Government’s powers within the Financial Services and Markets Act enable it to:
- direct the FSA to cover particular issues in its public Annual Report, including its own performance;
- establish whether the FSA is providing value for money;
- periodically review the secondary legislation which the FSA operates under and the boundaries of regulation;
- launch a statutory inquiry into possible serious regulatory failure.
