UK finance ministry backs independent review of swaps redress

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - Britain's finance ministry saidthat it supported an independent review into a scheme set up byBritain's financial regulator to compensate small firms mis-soldcomplex interest rate hedging products.

Parliament's Treasury Committee on Tuesday recommended thatthe Financial Conduct Authority examines whether there weresystemic failures in the review and said the process wouldbenefit from independent oversight.

"I strongly support this suggestion and believe thatoversight by a suitable non-executive director would beappropriate," Britain's junior finance minister Andrea Leadsomsaid in a letter to FCA Chairman John Griffith-Jones.

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham)