Big Bang 2.0! Chancellor to unveil plans for wave of City deregulation

The Treasury Secretary will set out today plans for a wave of financial deregulation dubbed the ‘Big Bang 2.0’.

Kwasi Kwarteng will unveil some of the reforms alongside a mini-budget expected to represent the largest series of tax cuts in more than 30 years.

The deregulation plans herald a broader package of measures that will be presented later in the autumn.

While details were not made public last night, the idea of ​​going ahead with the long-promised abolition of bureaucracy has been widely welcomed in some quarters.

Lord Tyrie, the former MP who once headed the Commons Treasury committee and later chaired Britain’s competition watchdog, said: ‘The regulatory framework needs to be reviewed regularly to remain effective and proportionate.’

The idea echoes the original ‘Big Bang’ of 1986 when the deregulation of the City of London under Thatcher’s government foreshadowed its emergence as a global financial center.

Kwarteng suggested a ‘Big Bang 2.0’ during a meeting with bank bosses on his first full day in office this month. He told 14 executives that the government would pursue an “unashamedly pro-growth agenda.”

The package appears to include a reform of the regulation of pension funds and insurers to free up more capital for investment, as well as changes to listing rules to make the UK more attractive for IPOs.

Prime Minister Liz Truss told a business roundtable in New York this week: “We want the city to become the most competitive place in the world for financial services, and we see that as an important part of the leveling agenda.

If we unblock capital, that capital will be used across the UK to make any industry more productive and competitive.”

The plans appear likely to build on proposed financial services legislation submitted to Parliament earlier this year. The new government has already indicated that it wants to remove a cap on bankers’ bonuses.

A spokesman for the lobbying group The City UK said the government looked to ‘go even further’ than what was already in the bill before parliament, but warned: ‘Regulation cannot be done at a mile a minute. Changes you make affect your trade relationships around the world.’

Dealing with Solvency II – rules for the insurance sector – is one of the topics on the agenda. MiFID is also likely to be in the spotlight, a package of EU regulations that includes corporate research rules that are seen as a barrier to small businesses’ ability to raise capital.

“If the government were able to act more quickly, there would be widespread applause across the sector,” the City UK spokesperson said.