1 Introduction
The work of the Parliamentary
Commission on Banking Standards
1. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards
(PCBS) was set up by both Houses of Parliament in July 2012 "to
consider and report on professional standards and culture of the
UK banking sector, taking account of regulatory and competition
investigations into the LIBOR rate-setting process, lessons to
be learned about corporate governance, transparency and conflicts
of interest, and their implications for regulation and for Government
policy and to make recommendations for legislative and other action".[1]
2. The PCBS issued its fifth and final Report, Changing
Banking for Good, on 19 June 2013.[2]
This followed other Reports from the PCBS which examined the draft
Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill,[3]
the question of proprietary trading by banks,[4]
and the failure of HBOS.[5]
3. The Government responded to the PCBS on 8 July
2013.[6] The Bank of England
and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) responded to the PCBS's
recommendations on 7 October 2013.[7]
This Report
4. Parliamentary responsibility for following up
the recommendations of the PCBS rests with the House of Commons
Treasury Committee and the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee.
5. This Report assesses the extent to which the Government
and the regulators have undertaken to implement the PCBS's recommendations.
Some recommendations have been enacted through the Financial Services
(Banking Reform) Act 2013, which received Royal Assent on 18 December
2013 after extensive amendment in Parliament, but details of the
implementation of some statutory provisions are still emerging.
This Report also discusses the PCBS's recommendations which will
fall to the regulators to implement under their existing powers.
1 Votes and Proceedings, House of Commons, 16 July
2012; House of Lords Journal, 17 July 2012 Back
2
Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, Changing banking
for good, Session 2013-14, HL Paper 27/HC 175 Back
3
Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, First Report of
Session 2012-13, First Report, HL Paper 98/HC 848; Second
Report of Session 2012-13, Banking reform: towards the right
structure, HL 126/HC 1012 Back
4
Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, Third Report of
Session 2012-13, Proprietary trading, HL Paper 138/HC 1034 Back
5
Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, Fourth Report of
Session 2012-13, 'An accident waiting to happen': the failure
of HBOS, HL Paper 144/HC 705 Back
6
HM Treasury and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills,
The Government's response to the Parliamentary Commission on
Banking Standards, Cm 8661, July 2013 Back
7
Bank of England, Bank of England response to the Final Report
of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, 7 October
2013; Financial Conduct Authority, The FCA's response
to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, 7 October
2013 Back
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