Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what role her Department has in (a) monitoring and (b) supporting the governance and accountability of bodies established following Competition and Markets Authority remedies, where those bodies are funded by regulated firms including the CMA9 banks.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is responsible for ensuring that the obligations under Part 2 of the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order (the Order), and the accompanying Agreed Arrangements, are satisfied. The Government is aware that Open Banking Limited (OBL) has recently conducted a review of its settlement agreements and sought external legal advice to ensure that these are legally compliant.

For the future, the Government has committed to establish a long-term regulatory framework to support the growth of UK Open Banking. This will provide the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with powers to regulate Open Banking – including FCA oversight of a so-called ‘Future Entity’ which will take on the functions currently carried out by OBL under the Order.

Treasury officials are engaging with the CMA to inform the design of this future framework.

In due course, the Government will consult on its legislative approach, including the powers it intends to provide the FCA to ensure it can effectively oversee the Open Banking ecosystem and its participants.