Statement: Reform of financial markets
8 July 2009 (updated on 22 April 2010)
Chancellor, Alistair Darling, made a statement to the House of Commons on proposals for the reform of financial markets as set out in Treasury White Paper
- Commons Hansard: Reforming financial markets
- HM Treasury White Paper: Reforming financial markets (pdf)
- About Parliament: Ministerial statements
- Topical issues: Financial institutions
Amongst the measures proposed in the White Paper are:
- Giving the Financial Services Authority (FSA) a formal statutory objective for financial stablility and extending its rule-making power
- Extending the FSA's powers to deal with individual institutions
- Creating a Council for Financial Stability made up of the Treasury, the Bank of England and the FSA, which will meet regularly and monitor system-wide financial stability
- Setting up a national money guidance service for consumers which the financial sector will help fund
- Giving consumers greater protection and more redress and compensation if things go wrong
- Requiring larger firms to increase their capital and liquidity resources
- Requiring that the Office for Fair Trading and the FSA ensure that competition is maintained in the market for financial services
- Requiring the FSA to report annually on how fianancial institutions are complying with their new remuneration code
White papers are issued by the Government as statements of policy, and often set out proposals for legislative changes, which may be debated before a Bill is introduced. Some white papers - including this one - invite comments.