UK Parliament / Open data

Money Market Funds (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this short debate and hope that there is no substantive objection to the powers which are proposed in this statutory instrument. I will try to deal with the questions that were raised by noble Lords.

The noble Lord, Lord Sharkey, asked why there is an additional power to make regulations. The power to make delegated regulations simply transfers to the Treasury the power in the EU regulation, which lies with the Commission, to make technical standards such as specifying credit quality assessment criteria. As these are basically technical standards, we believe that the negative procedure is appropriate. I may stand to be corrected, but I do not think that any of the committees that scrutinise legislation in this House have suggested otherwise.

Both the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, and the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, raised the question of removing the legal obligation to share information. I understand the concern, but I want to reassure both of them that this will not preclude UK supervisors from sharing information with EU authorities where necessary. I take the point that it is important that there is a good cross-flow of information between the UK and regulators in the EU, and there is already a good domestic framework for co-operation on information sharing with countries outside. We already have that, and the legislation allows for that. If you look at the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and the associate secondary legislation, all the necessary powers already exist for co-operation and information sharing with countries outside the UK, which will of course include the EU when we leave.

The noble Lord, Lord Adonis, asked about the impact assessment. The costs include a one-off cost for firms examining and understanding the instrument, estimated at £7,200, which will be shared between the 21 funds regulated under the MMFR in the UK.

Finally, the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, raised the point about reciprocity—I am sorry that he has had another bad day getting on top of these SIs. Of course, we cannot legislate here to make EU countries reciprocate what we are doing to them, but a series of bilateral discussions is under way to ensure that, in the unlikely event of no deal, essential relationships are preserved. I hope that I have answered all the issues raised by noble Lords.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

796 cc26-7 

Session

2017-19

Chamber / Committee

House of Lords chamber
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