On 15 June 2021, the Government reported that the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform had reported its recommendations to the Prime Minister on how the UK can reshape regulation and seize new opportunities from Brexit. The Taskforce was asked by the Government to look at ways to refresh the UK’s approach to regulation following Brexit
Pages 32 to 49 of the Taskforce’s report covers financial services and investment reform.
The recommendations discussed in that section include:
- Amending the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Enterprise Investment Scheme to maximise private equity and venture capital investment in growth industries.
- Restoring a common law principles based approach to financial services regulation.
- Amending the MiFID II position limits to introduce greater flexibility while preserving protections on critical contracts.
- Introducing a more discretionary and judgement-based approach to calculating central counterparty clearing house margins.
- Mandating the expansion of open banking to open finance quickly, and taking a more market-led, Australian-style approach.
- Increasing competition in the banking sector by adopting a graduated regulatory approach for challenger banks.
- Accelerating UK plans to develop a central bank digital currency and launch a pilot within 12 – 18 months.
The Government will consider and respond to the report’s recommendations in due course.
