The development of the U.K.’s regulatory framework for financial services has resulted in multiple public-sector bodies regulating the sector in ways that frequently overlap, warns the country’s leading banking lobby group.
UK Finance also says the scale of firms’ interactions with numerous regulators—including non-financial bodies such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, the country’s data protection authority—is “extensive” and regulatory change now accounts for increasing operational risk in the financial services system, as well as for a significant chunk of firms’ budgets—so much so that regulatory compliance costs are crowding out funds available for innovation and growth.
