King's Speech 2024

The King's speech to Parliament sets out the new government's legislative program. The government has published background briefing notes relating to the King's Speech, providing a summary of the legislation to be brought forward. The Bills announced, in relation to financial services, include:

• A Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill, which would aim to enhance the U.K.'s resolution regime, providing the Bank of England with a more flexible toolkit to respond to the failure of small banks. The Bill would expand the statutory function of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to provide funds to the BoE upon request, to be used where necessary to support the resolution of a failing bank. The FSCS would then recover the funds provided by charging levies on the banking sector, similar to the current arrangements for funding depositor pay-outs in insolvency. Credit unions will not be in scope of this levy. The BoE will also be provided with the power to require a bank in resolution to issue new shares, facilitating the use of FSCS funds to meet a failing bank's recapitalization costs.
• A Digital Information and Smart Data Bill—the Bill would provide for, among other things, the creation of Smart Data schemes. These, often referred to as Open Finance, will allow the secure sharing of a customer's data, upon their request, with authorized third-party providers. The Bill would also establish digital verification services. In addition, secure and trusted digital identity products and services would be available from certified providers to help with things like moving house, pre-employment checks, and buying age restricted goods and services.
• A Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which would aim to enhance the regulatory framework to strengthen cyber security. The scope of existing regulation will be expanded to cover more digital services and supply chains. Regulators' powers will be strengthened to ensure that cyber safety measures are being implemented and incident reporting requirements will be mandated.

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