The London Market Group has welcomed the latest report from the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee, describing its findings on the secondary growth and competitiveness objective as a positive step towards smarter, more proportionate regulation.

Caroline Wagstaff, chief executive of the London Market Group, commented: “For the UK’s financial services sector to compete and thrive on the global stage, we need a more tailored and proportionate approach to regulation. So, it is very pleasing to see this theme as a golden thread running through this important report.”

She described the report’s recommendations as “a result of thorough evidence gathering and clear thinking about how regulators can shift their operations and culture to support growth and competitiveness”, but said there was still much more work to do.

The LMG has consistently argued for greater use of benchmarks to monitor regulatory performance.

“The London Market Group has been a long-standing advocate for metrics and measurement," Wagstaff said. "Both are critical to understanding whether change is being delivered and having an impact. The Committee’s recommendation that HM Treasury introduce outcome-based growth metrics is very welcome. Equally important is more transparency on reporting by the regulators and a review of their statutory operating metrics.”

Wagstaff also backed the call for a comparative study on compliance costs. “Our members have for a long time highlighted the cumulative burden of regulation, so the recommendation of an independent study to assess the cost of compliance relative to other international jurisdictions is very welcome. Businesses have choices about where they put capital and people and understanding of relative costs is critical," she noted. “Making sure the UK regulatory environment is both robust and supportive is always going to be a work in progress and, as the Committee has rightly said, requires a culture of continuous improvement. We therefore welcome the ongoing scrutiny the Committee intends to take over the course of the parliament, this will help ensure that the regulators help to deliver a high-quality and globally competitive financial services sector.”

---