FACTBOX: Britain unveils banking reform blueprint
(Reuters) - Britain set out its blueprint for beefing up regulation of the financial sector on Wednesday in a bid to prevent a re-run of the crisis that forced it to bail out banks with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money.
* Revamps the "tripartite" system of joint banking supervision by the Bank of England, Financial Services Authority and Treasury by setting up a new Council for Financial Stability to monitor system-wide risks from banks better.
The Council will formally respond to recommendations made in reports from the Bank of England and the FSA. Minutes of the Council meetings will be published.
Mirrors initiatives in the European Union, United States and global level to monitor so-called systemic risks from banks and other big financial institutions like insurers and hedge funds.
* Legislation to set up a new national money guidance service to help consumers, funded by a levy on the financial sector
* Consumers to get more protection, including greater rights of redress and access to compensation
* Legislation to pre-fund and expand the role of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which safeguards deposits when a bank gets into trouble
* FSA will report annually on how it tackles financial institutions who don't comply with a code of practice on remuneration
* FSA will ensure banks hold enough capital as a buffer against losses
* FSA will have a backstop power to ensure banks don't lend beyond their ability
* FSA will ensure banks hold enough liquidity to carry out their business at all times
* FSA will have a new remit to ensure the financial system remains stable. Such a remit has already been given to the Bank of England
* FSA to ensure it has enough powers to crack down on misconduct harder and deal with big institutions that pose a potential risk to the financial system, such as hedge funds
* Britain will propose to the G20 group of industrialized and emerging market countries a new mechanism for quickly winding down big cross-border banks that get into trouble
* FSA to introduce higher standards and transparency to make markets such as derivatives function better
* FSA will ensure all financial institutions have contingency plans to be wound up
