The Bank of England today published a consultation paper on the Establishment of the Enforcement Decision Making Committee – CP/EDMC2016. This consultation paper (CP) sets out the Bank of England (the Bank) and the PRA’s proposal for the establishment of a unified Enforcement Decision Making Committee (EDMC) to take decisions in respect of:
(1) the PRA;
(2) Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI);
(3) Resolution contested enforcement cases.
This consultation responds directly to a recommendation from HM Treasury (HMT) regarding the PRA’s enforcement decision making processes within HMT’s Review of enforcement decision-making at the financial services regulators (the HMT Review). The focus of the HMT Review recommendations was on the transparency, fairness, effectiveness and speed of the FCA’s and the PRA’s enforcement decision-making processes.
This consultation goes beyond the recommendations set out in the HMT Review by extending the proposed EDMC model across all regulatory areas where the Bank has been granted enforcement powers consistently. At the time of consultation, these areas are the PRA, FMI and Resolution.
The Bank also proposes to use the EDMC in enforcement cases in relation to Scottish and Northern Ireland banknotes issuance by the banks that are authorised to issue their own banknotes (the authorised banks). On the basis of the relatively limited number of authorised banks and the distinct nature of the Scottish and Northern Ireland Banknote regime, the Bank will conduct a separate consultation with the authorised banks.
This consultation is part of a wider process to produce a consolidated and comprehensive external policy statement on the Bank’s enforcement processes. The Bank aims to publish this guidance during the course of 2017.
This consultation on the establishment of the Enforcement Decision Making Committee will be of interest to all authorised firms and their professional advisers involved in providing financial services.
The deadline for comments is Friday, 21 October 2016. The BoE statement and the consultation paper can be found here.