This morning (18 March), the Chancellor hosted senior representatives from the Fintech sector in No. 11 Downing Street to discuss the biggest growth opportunities for Fintechs and new draft legislation to streamline regulation and boost the attractiveness of our capital markets.

This new legislation will deliver reforms to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) rules, which were inherited from the European Union, and will enable the FCA to scrap any rules which are duplicative and unnecessarily hold UK firms back by designing a new regulatory framework that supports economic growth, this government’s number one mission.

The Chancellor committed to reforming these rules at her Mansion House speech in November to ensure that they work better for UK companies and they deliver for investors, firms, and support growth across the UK.

This will mark the next milestone in delivering the government’s wholesale market reforms and will boost the attractiveness of the UK’s capital markets.

This forms part of the Chancellor’s radical action plan to cut red tape, boost growth, and create a more effective regulatory system, delivering on the Prime Minister’s pledge to cut the administrative cost of regulation on business by a quarter.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said:

We are taking action to make our rulebook more competitive to support growth, the number one mission for our Plan for Change, and have asked the FCA to reform the regulatory structure around capital markets to make it work better for UK firms. This will ensure they can grow and invest across the economy, kickstarting growth and getting more money in people’s pockets.