Treasury Committee publishes terms of reference for Financial Conduct Authority inquiry

The Committee invites written submissions of up to 3,000 words by 10th October on the following points:

• Are the objectives of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) clear and appropriate?
• Should the FCA have a primary duty to promote competition as recommended by the Treasury Select Committee and Independent Commission on Banking? How should this work in practice?
• Does the FCA’s approach to regulation, as outlined in the Financial Services Authority (FSA)’s June 2011 document, represent an improvement on that of the FSA?
• To whom should the FCA be accountable? Are the lines of accountability clear?
• Are the powers of the FCA suitable? Will their exercise be subject to appropriate scrutiny? How should the FCA be interacting with industry as well as using its intervention powers?
• How will the break-up of the FSA work in practice? Issues of coordination and information sharing between the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
• How should the FCA be interacting with other domestic regulators? For example, the FCA’s relationship with the Bank of England and Financial Ombudsman Service.
• How should the FCA be interacting with international regulators? Do EU regulation initiatives restrict or enhance the work of the FCA? Will the FCA be able effectively to engage with the EU supervisory authorities?
The Committee has also today published a call for evidence on the proposals of the Independent Commission on Banking.

NOTES ON SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN EVIDENCE

Written evidence should be in Word or rich text format—not PDF format—and sent by e-mail to treascom@parliament.uk. The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from. Submissions should be no longer than 3000 words. Submissions should be in the format of a self-contained memorandum. Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document must include an executive summary. Further guidance on the submission of evidence can be found at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/witnessguide.pdf.

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, your submission becomes the property of the Committee and no public use should be made of it unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to publish the written evidence it receives, either by printing the evidence, publishing it on the internet or by making it publicly available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure; the Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

For data protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals wishing to submit written evidence send their contact details in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.