In a consultation paper published by the UK Treasury Office on Monday, the Government announced plans to transfer the regulation and supervision of settlement systems and central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs) to the Bank of England.
According to the paper, the Bank of England will be responsible for overseeing CCPs and settlement systems alongside its existing responsibilities for payment systems oversight this reflects the systemic importance of these types of infrastructure, the significant capital requirements and exposures that CCPs have and brings the regulation of all three types of body together for the first time.
Clearing houses are currently regulated by the Financial Services Authority, which is to be split into the Consumer Protection and Markets Authority (CPMA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
According to Mark Hoban, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, the move brings together the regulation of systemically important infrastructure and prudentially significant central counterparties.