About this Committee

On 4 December 2023 the House of Lords approved the establishment of a new sessional committee to scrutinise consultations notified to it under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (FSMA 2023), and to consider the regulation of financial services generally.1 On 24 January 2024 the House appointed this new committee, named the Financial Services Regulation Committee, and agreed its membership and powers.2 Our remit is to consider the regulation of financial services, including consultations notified to us under:

(a)paragraphs 28 and 29 of Schedule 1ZA to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000,

(b)paragraphs 36 and 37 of Schedule 1ZB to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000,

(c)paragraph 33B of Schedule 17A to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and

(d)paragraphs 14A and 14B of Schedule 4 to the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013.3

We held our first meeting on 7 February 2024 and over the past year have scrutinised various consultations as well as launching an inquiry into the secondary international competitiveness and growth objective given to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) under FSMA 2023. Where consultations do not raise significant issues, or include only minor changes, we may not take any further action or may enter into correspondence with the regulators or Government. However, where consultations involve more significant issues, or when the Committee conducts more wide-ranging inquiries, we will produce reports to the House. In this, our first report, we outline our findings on two recent consultations published by the FCA.