UK Wholesale Markets Review: a consultation

This consultation considers how the UK’s regime for wholesale capital markets can be reformed to deliver a framework that is fair, outcomes-based and supports openness and competitiveness, whilst maintaining the highest regulatory standards.

It outlines the government’s proposals to clarify the regulatory perimeter to ensure the market can operate in confidence, and to remove requirements that limit firms’ ability to access the most liquid pools of capital where they can get the best outcomes for investors. The consultation considers how the transparency regime for fixed income and derivatives markets can be recalibrated to ensure it is proportionate to the characteristics of these markets. It finally proposes reforms to the UK commodities regime as well as amendments to the market data regime, to ensure that market activity is not unnecessarily restricted and to enable participants to identify the best available prices, respectively.

In addition to enhancing the effectiveness of our current regulatory framework, and in line with the Chancellor’s vision for financial services, the consultation also considers how the Government can best ensure that the UK’s approach to capital markets regulation enables firms and regulators to address the challenges and opportunities of the future, as well as the present.