(11 months ago)
General CommitteesIt is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers.
The draft Securitisation Regulations 2023, the draft Public Offers and Admissions to Trading Regulations 2023, and the draft Financial Services Act 2021 (Overseas Funds Regime and Recognition of Parts of Schemes) (Amendment and Modification) Regulations 2024 are made under powers in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, which I shall refer to as FSMA. They form part of the Government’s ambitious programme to deliver a smarter regulatory framework for financial services by replacing assimilated law, formerly known as retained EU law, with an approach to regulation that is tailored to the United Kingdom. As the House will know, they are a key part of the Edinburgh reforms, which are a key part of the programme of the Treasury, the Chancellor and my office. The third of those instruments makes technical changes across the statute book to support the effective implementation of the overseas funds regime and functioning of fund recognition.
The draft Data Reporting Services Regulations 2023 establish a new legislative framework for the regulation of data reporting service providers, or DRSPs, replacing the framework inherited from the European Union. DRSPs report trade data—that is, data relating to trades that happen on financial markets—to either the public or the Financial Conduct Authority. That is essential to ensure that markets are supervised effectively and for them to operate and function properly.
The explanatory memorandum states that the FCA will need to make new rules under the new regime, and that the new regime will not come into force until the FCA has consulted on changes to its rules as part of the rule-making process. Can the Minister give us some idea of the timescale involved here?