Financial Services Bill [Bill 278 of 2010-12]

The focus of this Bill is to set up a new framework for financial regulation in the United Kingdom. Many reasons have been put forward for why the financial crisis which started in 2008 happened. The Coalition Government believes that regulatory failure played some part. The Bill puts the Bank of England back at the centre of the supervisory system; establishes institutions for ‘macro-prudential regulation’ and two new regulators which concentrate on the prudential regulation of large institutions and business conduct respectively.

The Bill is subject to a Sewell Convention which means that the Government is seeking consent from the Scottish Parliament to legislate on those aspects which touch on devolved matters.

The Bill was subject to a carry-over motion from the 2010-12 session and reappeared in 2012-13 as Bill 2 of that session.