Treasury Committee calls for FCA powers on perimeter changes

The Treasury Committee has unanimously called for FCA to be given formal powers to recommend changes to the regulatory perimeter.  It says the current informal system allows the grey area between regulated and non-regulated activities to be exploited. The report notes FCA’s unhappiness with the complexity of the perimeter and calls out SME lending, mortgage prisoners, mini-bonds and crytpo-assets as key grey areas. It says FCA must not be prevented from providing, and must be encouraged to give, warnings on the potential risks to consumers of unregulated activities.  But the limits on FCA’s powers currently mean it can only ever be reactive – so Treasury should consider whether to give FCA more power to gather data from non-regulated entities.