Financial Stability Board
Climate-related risks - FSB publishes interim report for consultation - 29 April 2022
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published for consultation an interim report on supervisory and regulatory approaches to climate-related risks (the Report). The FSB previously published a Roadmap for Addressing Climate-related Financial Risks in July 2021, as previously reported in this Bulletin.
The Report makes a range of recommendations with a view to assisting supervisory and regulatory authorities in developing their approaches “to monitor, manage and mitigate cross-sectoral and system-wide risks arising from climate change and to promote consistent approaches across sectors and jurisdictions”. Recommendations include accelerating the identification of authorities’ climate-related data needs and an expansion in the use of climate scenario analysis and stress tests for macroprudential purposes. The Report also presents some early thinking on macroprudential policies and tools that could complement microprudential measures. It encourages authorities and standard-setting bodies to undertake research and analysis in the near to medium term on appropriate enhancements to their regulatory frameworks.
The deadline for responses to the Report is 30 June 2022. The FSB will publish its final recommendations in the fourth quarter of 2022.
FSB Interim Report: Supervisory and Regulatory Approaches to Climate-related Risks
Webpage
Press release
Financial Conduct Authority
Linked Services List and Payment Accounts - FCA completes review - 29 April 2022
The FCA has published a webpage announcing that it does not intend to update its Linked Services List (the List) containing details of the most representative services linked to payment accounts subject to a fee in the UK (as required under the Payment Account Regulations). According to the FCA, the List meets and continues to meet the relevant statutory requirements and its purpose - to help consumers to make an informed choice when choosing payment accounts - is being fulfilled.
The FCA will update the webpage with more information shortly.
Webpage
Director of Competition, Interim Wholesale Director and Senior Advisor - FCA makes new appointments - 4 May 2022
The FCA as announced the appointment of three individuals to its senior leadership team, filling the roles of Director of Competition, Interim Wholesale Director and Senior Advisor.
The FCA has appointed Graeme Reynolds as its Director of Competition. Mr Reynolds was most recently one of the FCA’s chief economists, and will lead the FCA’s teams undertaking market competition studies and those investigating competition enforcement cases.
The FCA has appointed Simon Walls as its Interim Wholesale Director. Mr Walls has been Head of Wholesale Markets at the FCA since 2016, having been with the FCA/Financial Services Authority since 2006 in a variety of roles, including seven years in asset management supervision.
The FCA has also announced that Mel Gunewardena will take up a Senior Advisor Role in May 2022. Mr Gunewardena is currently Chief Market Intelligence Officer at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington DC and a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs.
Press release
APPG Judicial Review and Single View Initiative - FCA publishes minutes from Board meeting - 4 May 2022
The FCA has published the minutes of its board meeting on 23 and 24 March 2022. Among other things, the Board decided that the FCA should defend the application for permission for judicial review and, if permission is granted, the judicial review itself, brought by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking (APPG). The APPG seeks to challenge the lawfulness of the FCA’s decision in September 2021 not to use its powers to require any further redress to be paid to interest rate hedging products (IRHP) customers.
Separately, the board expressed its support for the Single View Initiative (the Initiative), which gathers key information about firms in dashboard form so that decisions and actions can be faster and better informed. The board was informed that findings from the piloting phase showed a reduction in triaging time and how the Initiative highlighted potential harms requiring investigation and supervision
FCA Board meeting minutes: 23 & 24 March 2022
Consumer Support - FCA publishes speech - 5 May 2022
The FCA has published a speech delivered by Sheldon Mills, Executive Director, Consumer and Competition at the FCA, at the Building Societies Annual Conference 2022.
Mr Mills focused on a number of points related to the theme of supporting consumers in challenging times, including:
- the role the financial services industry has to play in helping consumers manage their personal finances in the context of the cost of living crisis;
- the opportunities open banking can bring for building societies and their members; and
- the growth in later life lending, and the importance of suitable advice and responsible lending when serving older borrowers.
Mr Mills also highlighted how the FCA will be raising standards through its new consumer duty, and noted the extension of the FCA’s product design and fair value rules, which will apply to building societies for the first time.
Speech by Sheldon Mills, FCA Executive Director, Consumers and Competition: Supporting consumers in challenging times
Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum
Annual report, work plan and algorithmic processing discussion papers - published by the DRCF - 28 April 2022
The Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) has published its first annual report for 2021/22 together with an annual plan of work outlining its priorities for 2022/23. It has also published two discussion papers relating to its work on algorithms. The DRCF was formed in July 2020 by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The FCA joined as a full member in April 2021.
The DRCF explains in its annual report that the CMA, Ofcom, the ICO and the FCA now routinely share knowledge and skills, pool resources and work together to identify important industry trends and innovations. Building on that progress, the DRCF workplan for 2022/23 refers to a number of proposed projects that will help tackle current and future digital challenges, including encouraging responsible innovation and exploring different models for how work is coordinated with industry to support innovation.
The DRCF has also published two discussion papers based on the work of its algorithmic processing workstream. The first of these papers considers the current and potential harms and benefits of algorithmic processing and explores possible roles for the UK regulators in this context. The second paper looks at the auditing of algorithms.
The DRCF invites responses to the questions set out in the two papers by 8 June 2022.
Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum: Annual report 2021 to 2022
Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum: Plan of work for 2022 to 2023
Discussion paper: The benefits and harms of algorithms: a shared perspective from the four digital regulators
Discussion paper: Auditing algorithms: the existing landscape, role of regulators and future outlook
Press release
