ABI response to Turner review

ABI response to Turner review

ABI response to Turner review

Responding to Lord Turner’s review into regulation, Stephen Haddrill, the ABI’s Director General, said:

“This is an important contribution, which could be a significant step towards improving regulation. Central to any reform is the need to restore confidence to both consumers and financial markets.

“We need a supervisory and regulatory system which supports good quality, trusted banks and other financial services companies in open, competitive markets. The global nature of businesses in London must be preserved.”

Pan-European regulator

“Lord Turner’s recommendation for a European Regulatory Authority is a welcome acknowledgment of our arguments that we need more effective cross-border supervision. A supervisor of supervisors, covering the 27 members of the Single European Market, will greatly benefit UK insurers, the largest insurance sector in Europe. However, we believe the FSA should go further and support such a body having the powers to settle disputes between regulators over cross-border companies.”

Prudential supervision

“Better prudential supervision of financial firms is essential to the health of financial services and we agree with Lord Turner that the Tri-partite arrangement is the best vehicle to achieve this. However, it needs better co-operation and to take into account macroeconomic factors in its judgements. We welcome Lord Turner’s recognition that regulators must not call for more capital than is needed, as this will reduce bank lending and economic growth.”

Remuneration

“Employees must not be incentivised to take excessive long-term risks for short-term gain. If remuneration policies are adopted which make firms riskier, regulators have legitimate cause for tightening up prudential standards.”

Accounting

“While there is an important debate to have around the role of financial reporting in the crisis, it must be remembered that accounts are for investors and not for regulators, who have much stronger powers to obtain information about a company’s financial strength.”

– ENDS –

Notes for Editors

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