On August 3, 2018, following a consultation that ran between November 2017 and February 2018, the Bank of England published a policy statement on the procedure and necessary revisions to existing policies and procedures required for the establishment of an Enforcement Decision Making Committee.
The EDMC has been established as a response to a recommendation from HM Treasury arising from its review of enforcement decision-making at the U.K. financial regulators. HM Treasury had recommended the establishment of a functionally-independent decision-making committee composed of independent members with expertise suited to the Prudential Regulation Authority's regulatory focus. The BoE has gone beyond HM Treasury's original recommendation and, going forward, the EDMC will be the BoE's decision-making body in contested enforcement cases that relate to all areas in which the BoE has enforcement powers (that is, prudential regulation, financial market infrastructure, resolution and note issuances). It will ensure the necessary functional separation between the BoE's investigation teams and decision-makers.
Alongside the Policy Statement, the BoE has published revised statements of policy and procedures reflecting the EDMC's establishment. These cover the EDMC's remit and operation and the selection, appointment, remuneration and governance of EDMC members. The BoE has also issued a press release announcing its appointment of six EMDC members. Members are appointed for renewable, fixed, three-year periods and cannot serve more than two consecutive terms.
The initial six EDMC members are:
- Sir William Blair (Chair)
- Philip Marsden (Deputy Chair)
- Baroness Kishwer Falkner
- Anne Heal
- Mark Hoban
- Edward Sparrow
The Policy Statement is available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/paper/2018/enforcement-decision-making-committee-policy-statement.pdf, the updated statement of policy, "The Prudential Regulation Authority's approach to enforcement: statutory statements of policy and procedure" is available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/prudential-regulation/statement-of-policy/2018/the-pras-approach-to-enforcement-statutory-statements-of-policy-and-procedure-update.pdf, the document, "Procedures – the Enforcement Decision Making Committee" is available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/paper/2018/procedures-the-enforcement-decision-making-committee.pdf, the updated policy statement, "Statutory statements of procedure in respect of the Bank of England's supervision of financial market infrastructures" is available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/statement/2018/statutory-statements-of-procedure-in-respect-of-the-boe-supervision-of-fmi-policy-statement-update.pdf and the Press Release on appointment of EDMC members is available at: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/news/2018/august/appointment-of-members-of-the-enforcement-decision-making-committee.pdf?la=en&hash=9EBA236B1D9833AF3017A453B3D8FB002009E08B.
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