In October 2020, HM Treasury in the UK issued a consultation on its Future Regulatory Framework Review. The Review considers how the regulatory framework for financial services needs to adapt to be fit for the UK’s future outside of the European Union.

In this context, Oxera, the London School of Economics (LSE) Systemic Research Centre and the LSE Department of Law decided to hold a conference bringing together HM Treasury, academics and Oxera experts to discuss and explain some important issues arising from the consultation.

One issue discussed was accountability. Without the EU’s architecture for accountability, does it make more sense to impose elaborate decision-making criteria on UK regulators, or to put in place strong and effective accountors? Will regulators collect the data and deploy the techniques that they need to assess, objectively, which interventions have worked and which have not?

Another issue was technological disruption. Financial markets are ripe for this, so how can regulators best prepare to deal with network effects and platformisation?

Yet another important area of debate was equity markets. How can the UK address the declining attractiveness of its primary markets as an international listing venue and maintain the success of its secondary markets?

This report was written by LSE staff, with extensive input from Oxera, led by Peter Andrews, Luis Correia da Silva and Reinder Van Dijk. In addition to the issues already mentioned, it covers the case for giving regulators responsibility for monitoring and promoting the effectiveness of the financial system as a whole; does it serve the real sector as best it can? It also addresses the thorny issue of whether it is in the public interest to treat insurance companies as institutions that impose systemic risk.