The Treasury is seeking views on which metrics financial regulators should publish for their controversial new secondary growth and competitiveness objectives. The call for proposals closes at 11.59pm on 4 July. 

 

The government said its call for proposals aims to help determine what additional metrics it is most appropriate for the regulators to publish, “to ensure that reporting on the new secondary objectives is sufficient to support scrutiny of the regulators’ work in embedding and advancing their new objectives”. 

 
Under the financial services and markets bill, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority are set to receive secondary objectives requiring them to foster the growth and international competitiveness of the UK economy in the medium to long term. The introduction of this new goal has been criticised as a regulatory race to the bottom, with fewer rules allowing for more risk in the system. Economist John Kay among others has warned against introducing a competitiveness objective. 

 

Defending the FCA’s record amid the liability-driven investment crisis last year, chief executive Nikhil Rathi told a Lords committee that the FCA has clamped down on things like crypto derivatives but has had to take “quite a bit of heat for doing that — this is an interesting conversation about the secondary competitiveness objective coming into play in the regulatory framework — from people saying that we are allowing this innovative activity to move to other jurisdictions”. He argued that in order to take robust action on high risk activities or money laundering, the regulator needed parliamentary and political support. 

 

What metrics do you expect to see the PRA and FCA publish about competitiveness and growth? Should economic growth and competitiveness be regulatory objectives in your view?