Financial Conduct Authority : twenty-sixth report of session 2010-12, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

This Treasury Committee report into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) contains a number of recommendations for the Government's consideration ahead of the drafting and publication of the Financial Services Bill early in 2012.

Among the recommendations are: (a) that the Government should legislate to give the FCA a primary objective to promote effective competition for the benefit of the consumer (in line with the thinking of the Independent Commission on Banking and the Office of Fair Trading); (b) the Government must put competition at the heart of the new regulatory framework; (c) that the FCA develops far more reliable estimates, in collaboration with the industry, of its own cost effectiveness; (d) that the Government differentiates between retail and wholesale consumers; (e) that both the FCA and the financial services industry make better efforts to communicate with each other; (f) that the current legislative proposals be revised to ensure that the FCA is properly accountable to Parliament and that tools are available to enable the required level of explanation from the regulator.