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By Huw Jones
LONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Britain will adopt tough but
less bureaucratic financial rules after Brexit, starting with
simpler regulation of small banks, Bank of England Deputy
Governor Sam Woods said on Tuesday.
Britain will soon unveil new legislation for regulating the
City of London, which for decades has complied with rules
written in Brussels that end in December, when Brexit transition
arrangements expire.
Leaving the European Union has raised hopes of a regulatory
"Brexit dividend" that will help banks and insurers in Europe's
biggest financial centre maintain global competitiveness.
"We should approach that in the spirit of, let's have high
standards here in London and here in the UK, but let's get back
to a more British way of doing that regulation -- things that
can be tough but less bureaucratic," Woods told a City Week
online event.
When Britain comes to applying remaining global bank capital
rules known as Basel III, it will be "exactly in that format",
he said, adding that the BoE would propose simpler rules for
smaller lenders in a month or so.
"It would have been impossible to agree in the European
context as one person's big bank is another person's small
bank," Woods said.
Katharine Braddick, director general, financial services at
Britain's finance ministry, said much thought had been given to
what makes the City competitive.
"Openness is at the core of our competitive offering,"
Braddick said, adding this does not mean a "free for all": "It
means we have a set of access regimes that are becoming more
comprehensive and over which we have more control."
The financial sector in Britain faces losing much of its
access to the 27-nation EU, its biggest single customer, while
also fighting the pandemic.
"In terms of the financial sector through the crisis so far,
so far so good is my feeling about it," Woods said.
(Reporting by Huw Jones, Editing by Louise Heavens and
Catherine Evans)
