UK regulators unveil sweeping reforms for banks and asset managers

The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee proposed to ease capital rules for UK banks, cutting the minimum counter‑cyclical leverage buffer from 14% to 13% and aiming to free up billions of pounds for lending. Governor Andrew Bailey said the changes are “targeted” and “appropriate”, even as the Bank warned that rapid AI progress raises new financial‑stability risks.

At the same time, the Financial Conduct Authority announced a modernisation plan for asset‑manager regulation called FRAME. The new framework will replace the complex AIFMD reporting regime with consolidated data sets, reduce reporting costs by an estimated £128 million a year and apply lighter rules to firms with net asset values under £750 million while imposing stricter oversight on those above £5 billion. FCA markets director Simon Walls said the reforms will “collect better data while also saving the industry tens of millions of pounds a year”.