Draft Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (Retail Disclosure) (Amendment) Regulations 2024
Draft Consumer Composite Investments (Designated Activities) Regulations 2024
Draft Securitisation (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024
Draft Prudential Regulation of Credit Institutions (Meaning of CRR Rules and Recognised Exchange) (Amendment) Regulations 2024
(1 month, 2 weeks ago)
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The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Tulip Siddiq)
I beg to move,
That the Committee has considered the draft Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (Retail Disclosure) (Amendment) Regulations 2024.
The Chair
With this it will be convenient to consider the draft Consumer Composite Investments (Designated Activities) Regulations 2024, the draft Securitisation (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024 and the draft Prudential Regulation of Credit Institutions (Meaning of CRR Rules and Recognised Exchange) (Amendment) Regulations 2024.
Tulip Siddiq
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. The regulations that we are introducing today will ensure effective, proportionate regulation for the financial sector by laying the groundwork for wholesale reform of consumer disclosure for financial services, and for effective prudential arrangements.
Let me turn first to the draft Consumer Composite Investments (Designated Activities) Regulations 2024. The packaged retail and insurance-based investment products regulation, or PRIIPs regulation, was designed to standardise disclosure across a wide range of financial instruments and across the EU in an attempt to improve transparency and enable comparison between products for retail investors. However, as many Members will be aware, the regime was overly prescriptive and burdensome with the one-size-fits-all template of the key information document, or KID, resulting in the presentation of misleading information to consumers on potential risks and returns. The previous Government took urgent action to address the most pressing issues with the KID in the Financial Services Act 2021, and the draft statutory instrument will deliver on this Government’s commitment to wholesale reform of these EU-inherited rules, with a new regime tailored to UK markets and firms.
The SI provides the Financial Conduct Authority with tailored rule-making and enforcement powers to deliver this long-called-for reform and to ensure its effective implementation. The new regime for CCIs will have tailored and flexible rules that address the key issues with PRIIPs and will support investors to better understand what they are paying for. The FCA’s consultation later this year will provide an opportunity for a full range of stakeholders to provide feedback on the new regime to ensure that it works as intended.
I return to the draft Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (Retail Disclosure) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. I have heard concerns from industry about PRIIPs. The current disclosure requirements have had unintended consequences on the investment trust sector specifically. Listed investment trusts are a British invention dating back 150 years, and they are unique to our country. Representing over 30% of the FTSE 250, and predominantly investing in illiquid assets—including infrastructure projects and renewables—they play an active role in supporting the Government’s growth agenda.
Investment trusts are a unique and well established type of closed-ended investment vehicle, and the Government recognise that the prescriptive cost disclosure methodology required by the PRIIPs regulation does not reflect the actual cost of investing in these close-ended funds. The industry has told us again and again that the methodology is negatively impacting its ability to fundraise, and competitiveness. Therefore, this instrument will immediately exempt listed investment trusts from the current PRIIPs regulation and other relevant assimilated law as we finalise the replacement CCI regime, delivering on a key industry ask.
We have worked quickly to deliver these changes and firms are able to take advantage of this provision immediately, before the legislation takes effect, due to the FCA’s regulatory forbearance. This approach is intended as an interim measure, and investment trusts will be included within the scope of the new CCI regime, once it is in place. The FCA, recognising that the pace of legislative reform can be slow, has already implemented regulatory forbearance so that firms can take advantage of the provision immediately, before the instrument takes effect. In the long term, investment trusts will follow bespoke and tailored rules befitting the industry, and I encourage all sides to come together to find a sensible solution under the CCI regime.
Let me now turn to the draft Prudential Regulation of Credit Institutions (Meaning of CRR Rules and Recognised Exchange) (Amendment) Regulations 2024, which make two amendments. The first is a technical change supporting the implementation of Basel 3.1, the final round of bank capital reforms following the global financial crisis. Bank capital rules are contained in the capital requirements regulation, part of assimilated law on financial services. This SI will enable revocations of these regulations, allowing the Prudential Regulation Authority to replace those rules in its rulebook, while ensuring that the PRA’s rule making remains subject to appropriate accountability and scrutiny.
The second amendment will expand the definition of a “recognised exchange”, from referring only to domestic investment exchanges to include those from overseas. This will enable stocks and shares from qualifying overseas exchanges to receive preferential prudential treatment when used as collateral to secure financial services, and will broaden our definition, making the UK comparable with international counterparts and ensuring that we are competitive.
Finally, the draft Securitisation (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024 extend a temporary arrangement allowing UK banks to treat EU securitisation products as though they originate from the UK, providing that they meet the standards of the “simple, transparent and standardised” framework. This means that banks and insurance firms holding such products may be able to benefit from preferential capital treatment. The current arrangement is due to expire at the end of December 2024, which would mean that no additional EU STS securitisations would be able to enter the temporary arrangement after that date. As that could impact the range of investment options for UK market participants, the Government are legislating to extend this arrangement to June 2026.
The EU securitisation regulation was recently incorporated into the European economic area agreement, and the EEA-European Free Trade Association states have indicated their intention to align themselves with the EU securitisation regulations over the course of 2025. The extension granted by this instrument will allow time for the EEA-EFTA states to implement these changes and for UK authorities to make a more informed decision about the non-time limited designation of EU STS securitisation products by June 2026.
These SIs will empower regulators to ensure that our financial services industry is subject to a rulebook that is fit for purpose, more proportionate, and tailored to UK markets. I know that the hon. Member for Grantham and Bourne is familiar with the regulations, as I have debated with him several times in Committee. I hope that he and the Committee will join me in supporting the regulations, which I commend to them.
Gareth Davies (Grantham and Bourne) (Con)
It is always a pleasure to see you in your place and to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I also welcome the Economic Secretary to the Treasury to her place. I have spent many hours with her in these rooms, and that may or may not continue—we will find out soon.
The UK is one of the world’s leading financial centres and our financial services sector is one of the great engines of our economy. We should never forget that the sector employs some 2.3 million people, two thirds of whom are based outside of London—a slightly underappreciated fact about the sector.
Investment trusts are currently subject to disclosure requirements under the EU-inherited packaged retail and insurance-based investment products regulation—or PRIIPs, which is much easier to say—regulation, alongside other assimilated EU legislation. Ensuring that retail investors can make informed investment decisions is crucial for maintaining healthy capital markets. Industry leaders widely agree that the single aggregated figure currently produced under these EU-inherited rules fails to accurately reflect the true cost of investing in shares of an investment trust. The previous Government recognised those concerns completely and launched a consultation on a proposed alternative framework for retail disclosure in the UK. This consultation was designed to ensure that, following the repeal of the PRIIPs regulation, the new framework would be better aligned with the UK’s dynamic capital markets and foster more informed retail participation.
As the Minister quite rightly set out, the draft Consumer Composite Investments (Designated Activities) Regulations 2024 replaced assimilated law relating to PRIIPs regulation, establishing a new legislative framework for the regulation of consumer composite investments. Replacing those assimilated laws was a crucial part of the previous Government’s plans to develop a smarter regulatory framework.
The draft Securitisation (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024 extend a temporary arrangement, granting preferential prudential treatment for EU origin STS securitisations, and the draft Prudential Regulation of Credit Institutions (Meaning of CRR Rules and Recognised Exchange) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 make amendments to primary legislation in connection with the revocation by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 of the EU capital requirements regulation, which currently forms part of assimilated law on financial services.
All that is a long way of saying that His Majesty’s Opposition welcome these draft regulations, and hope that they will provide listed investment companies with the long-term regulatory certainty that they need. However, I will end by saying that the financial services sector thrives on stability and predictability, and I am deeply concerned that such certainty will be undermined by the recent Budget of broken promises and betrayal, though I am happy to leave those discussions for another day.
Tulip Siddiq
I thank the shadow Minister—or perhaps temporary shadow Minister—for his support and associate myself with his comments about the financial services sector. It is a success story of our country. During the passage of the legislation that is now the Financial Services and Markets Act, he and I talked often about the importance of the financial services sector to the overall economy, but I will not associate myself with his comments on the Budget or rise to anything he says in that regard!
These SIs represents an important step in our approach to regulation for financial services, which we want to be proportionate, effective and tailored to the UK. We want to get the best out of our financial services sector. I encourage all interested parties to engage with the FCA as it consults on the proposed CCI regime later this year, because it is important to hear from the industry and ensure that we make regulation according to what it will thrive on.
I thank the Committee for listening to me speak for quite a long time. If Members have any questions, I would be happy to answer them. I thank the shadow Minister, and I thank the Whips for organising us today.
Question put and agreed to.
DRAFT CONSUMER COMPOSITE INVESTMENTS (DESIGNATED ACTIVITIES) REGULATIONS 2024
Resolved,
That the Committee has considered the draft Consumer Composite Investments (Designated Activities) Regulations 2024.—(Tulip Siddiq.)
DRAFT SECURITISATION (AMENDMENT) (NO. 2) REGULATIONS 2024
Resolved,
That the Committee has considered the draft Securitisation (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024.—(Tulip Siddiq.)
DRAFT PRUDENTIAL REGULATION OF CREDIT INSTITUTIONS (MEANING OF CRR RULES AND RECOGNISED EXCHANGE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2024
Resolved,
That the Committee has considered the draft Prudential Regulation of Credit Institutions (Meaning of CRR Rules and Recognised Exchange) (Amendment) Regulations 2024.—(Tulip Siddiq.)