The Financial Services Bill : the Financial Policy Committee's macro-prudential tools

The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is to be established under the Financial Services Bill, currently going through Parliament.

The Committee will be charged with identifying, monitoring and addressing risks to the financial system as a whole, as well as supporting the Government's economic objectives.

An interim Financial Policy Committee was set up in advance and was asked to evaluate and recommend potential macro-prudential tools that the statutory FPC could be given powers to direct the regulators to implement.

Those recommendations were submitted in March 2012. This document describes macro-prudential regulation and the role of the FPC, and sets out the Government's proposals for the FPC's initial toolkit.

The powers are designed to allow the FPC to mitigate risks to systemic stability.

The two primary powers will be powers of recommendation and powers of direction.

A draft of the statutory instrument that will establish the toolkit is included, along with a draft of the impact assessment that will accompany it.