In this joint event held with the Edinburgh Centre for Financial Innovations and the Edinburgh Futures Institute, Sheldon Mills, Executive Director, Consumers and Competition at the Financial Conduct Authority will speak on the regulatory issues emanating from the implementation of the UK government’s vision for an internationally competitive and innovative financial services sector in the UK.

On a visit to Edinburgh in December 2022, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, unveiled the ‘Edinburgh Reforms’, a package of policy measures conceived to advance the UK government’s vision for a sustainable, open, technologically advanced, and globally competitive financial services sector. In addition to an ambitious set of proposals to reform the UK system of financial services and markets regulatory architecture, they also include plans for a repeal and replacement of legacy EU financial services legislation, thus potentially leading to further divergence from EU law. Therefore, when fully implemented, the reforms will encapsulate the most significant change to financial services and markets regulation in the UK since the introduction of the Financial Services and Markets Act in 2000.

The Financial Conduct Authority plays a central role in the delivery of the Edinburgh Reforms, a point underscored by the issuance of new remit letters to it and the Prudential Regulation Authority by Mr Hunt one day ahead of the unveiling of the reforms; the letter to the FCA sets out “clear, (and) targeted recommendations”on how the Financial Conduct Authority may support the government’s objectives on economic growth and international competitiveness of the UK.

In this public lecture, Sheldon Mills, Executive Director, Consumers and Competition at the Financial Conduct Authority will address these issues in the context of the Financial Conduct Authority’s primary objectives of protecting consumers from bad conduct, protecting the integrity of the UK financial system, and promoting effective competition in the interests of consumers.

The event will be chaired by Professor Gbenga Ibikunle, Chair of Finance and Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Financial Innovations.