UK: the future of the FRC - subsumed within a securities regulator?

The chairman of the Financial Reporting Council, Baroness Sarah Hogg, recently commented on whether the UK Listing Authority should be merged with the FRC in an article appearing in the Financial Times newspaper: see here. Baroness Hogg's view was clearly put: she recognised the synergies that would arise from such a merger but argued that the UKLA, FRC and the market division of the FSA should be merged to create a comprehensive markets authority or securities regulator, with consumer interests protected by a separate agency. Debate on this matter began earlier this year with the publication of the Government's consultation paper A New Approach to Financial Regulation (see here).