The UK’s new top banking regulator will this week commit to setting quantifiable performance targets as part of a five-year strategy to be published for the first time in 2027.
Katharine Braddick will outline plans to make the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority more accountable and transparent in a speech at the Mansion House on Thursday, people familiar with the matter told the FT.
The move to publish targets for the PRA — which are likely to include speeding up approvals of licence applications and executive appointments, as well as cutting the amount of data banks and insurers must provide to the regulator — is expected to go down well in the City of London.
Braddick, who joined the PRA in July from Barclays, aims to present the full details of her new strategy in the first quarter of next year.
It will be the first time the regulator has published its strategy or set measures against which it can be held to account by parliament.
Braddick aimed to focus on making the PRA more transparent, improving how it uses technology, including AI, boosting support for economic growth and ensuring the financial system is well defended against operational risks such as cyber attacks, the people said.
Her plan comes after the Treasury included a requirement for the PRA to publish its strategy in the financial services bill now being debated in parliament.
The BoE declined to comment.
The PRA, which regulates UK banks and insurers, has been seen in the City as slower than its sister regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, to respond to the secondary objective to support economic growth and competitiveness that both were given in 2023.
Braddick was head of strategic policy at Barclays and before joining the lender she held senior roles at the Treasury, the BoE and the FCA’s predecessor, the Financial Services Authority.
Her appointment as the banking sector’s chief supervisor was welcomed in many parts of the City as a sign that the government was serious about reforming regulation to boost the economy.
Sam Woods, Braddick’s predecessor, spent two five-year terms as PRA chief and was influential in shaping much of the post-crisis regulatory framework for British banks and insurers.
Braddick, who serves as one of the BoE’s four deputy governors, is expected to say that for the PRA to preserve its credibility and legitimacy, it has to be more prepared to explain its objectives and to be held accountable for whether it is achieving them.
The regulator has in recent years announced some changes to its rules, such as reducing the restrictions on bonus payments to bankers, trimming the amount of capital banks require and easing constraints on mortgage lending.
But financial groups have been pushing it to go further; in particular, they want the PRA to do more to lower capital requirements on banks to support increased lending and preserve UK competitiveness after US regulators launched a major easing of rules on Wall Street lenders.