UK: the Financial Services Bill

In today's Queen's Speech - containing the Government's legislative programme for the months that remain before a general election must be called - was mention of the Government's heavily trailed proposals for the financial sector. A Financial Services Bill is proposed, the main elements of which include (to quote from a short overview of the Bill prepared by the Government):

• Establishing a new statutory Council for Financial Stability (‘the Council’), to replace the Standing Committee, chaired by the Chancellor and comprising the Treasury, Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority.
• Strengthening the Financial Services Authority, including through providing explicit objectives, formalising its international work, and expanding the remit of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
• Taking action, nationally and internationally, on remuneration.
• Tougher requirements on systemically important financial firms to set up recovery and resolution plans (ie ‘living wills’), that will make banks safer and easier to wind down in the event of a future crisis.
• Enabling the roll-out of a national money guidance service, to be delivered by a new Consumer Financial Education Body.
• The creation of better routes for consumer redress, including enabling a representative to bring an action through the courts on behalf of a group of consumers, and streamlining the FSA’s powers to order a review of past business and secure compensation if there have been legal or regulatory breaches.
• Banning unsolicited credit card cheques, to prevent financial institutions from encouraging customers to borrow more than they can afford.
  

The devil will, of course, be in the detail and for this we will have to wait. The Guardian newspaper reports that the Bill will be published in full tomorrow. This raises the question how the Government will implement the Walker Review final recommendations, which will be published next week. In a speech delivered earlier this month, the Chancellor said that the Government would "legislate to make further reforms [to the financial regulation framework], including the implementation of Sir David Walker’s report on corporate governance in the financial sector".