Liz Truss weighing plan to merge financial regulators, say reports

theguardian.com:

Liz Truss would scrap reforms meant to avoid another 2007-style financial crisis by merging three of the UK’s top financial regulators if she becomes the UK’s next prime minister, according to reports.

The frontrunner in the Conservative leadership race is said to be preparing for a review of the financial regulators’ responsibilities if she succeeds in beating rival Rishi Sunak, the Financial Times said, citing campaign insiders.

That could mean merging the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is broadly in charge of overseeing company behaviour and protecting consumers’ financial interests, with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which is part of the Bank of England and responsible for making sure banks and insurers are financially stable and are not putting the wider economy at risk.

The report suggests the merger would also include the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), which oversees the networks that facilitate money transfers, contactless payments and cash machines across the UK.

The move would mean integrating the City watchdogs less than a decade after they were formed in 2013 as part of a post-financial crisis overhaul originally put forward by the then chancellor George Osborne in 2010.

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The PRA and FCA were created by splitting the now-defunct Financial Services Authority, which was criticised for failing to properly supervise banks in the lead-up to the previous financial crisis, and prevent scandals including the mis-selling of payment protection insurance.

Any plans to reintegrate the lenders is likely to raise eyebrows, just as the UK steels itself for another economic