Financial Conduct Authority's involvement in sale of RBS shares
21 November 2016
Treasury Committee Chair comments on an exchange of letters with Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury, following reports by the news organisation BuzzFeed that the Treasury received confidential information about the regulator's investigation into RBS' Global Restructuring Group ahead of a sale of the bank's shares in August 2015.
- Letter from Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, dated 17 October 2016 (PDF 325 KB)
- Letter to Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury, dated 16 November 2016 (PDF 642 KB)
- Inquiry: HM Treasury: Report and Accounts 2015–2016
HM Treasury's sale of RBS shares
Rt Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Treasury Committee, said:
"Mr Scholar has provided some reassurance that the Treasury did not use its privileged access to the regulator to seek advantage in the sale of its shares in RBS.
It would have been very poor procedure if the Treasury had not sought information from the regulator - information which could have affected the share price ahead of the sale. It is entitled to do so, under the information sharing gateways set out in statute.
Nonetheless, important issues for future asset sales remain: the extent to which the FCA is entitled to pass the Treasury information under the sharing gateways in FSMA, and what constitutes insider information for these purposes. This is something on which Parliament will remain vigilant."
Further information
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