PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Banks: Regulation (14 January 2022)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of continuing to include small non-complex retail financial institutions in the definition of public interest entities in the context of those institutions being regulated by the Prudential Regulatory Authority.

Asked by:
Jonathan Reynolds (Labour)

Public interest entities are businesses of particular importance to the UK economy, and are subject to more stringent requirements and oversight to reflect this. On 18 March, the Government published a White Paper on ‘Restoring trust in audit and corporate reporting’, which included proposals to extend the definition of public interest entity to bring other large businesses into scope.

Arguments have been made that some smaller entities, including small non-complex retail financial institutions, should not be within the UK’s definition of public interest entity. However, this needs to be balanced against the need to maintain public confidence in these institutions, and to protect the public interest in their reporting. The Government is considering the responses to the consultation carefully and will respond in due course.

Answered by:
Paul Scully (Conservative)
24 January 2022