On 27 October 2022, the Bank of England (the Bank) published a speech by Sam Woods, Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and Chief Executive Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority, on growth and competitiveness, given at Mansion House.
In his speech, Mr Woods discusses how prudential regulation can contribute to the competitiveness of the United Kingdom as a financial centre, and to long-term economic growth.
In his speech, Mr Woods makes the following arguments:
- Financial stability is the single most important ingredient of competitiveness in financial services. Delivering that stability must remain the core purpose of prudential regulation in the UK.
- There is a good case for Parliament to require the regulators to place more weight on growth and competitiveness as part of post-Brexit reforms in which the Bank, as a rule maker, is expanded. If Parliament agrees to make that change the Bank is ready to embrace it.
- There are good ways of making that change and bad ways of making it. The Bank fully supports the Financial Services and Markets Bill as introduced to Parliament, as it strikes a sensible balance between the competing considerations at play.
