Bank of England: Sam Woods warns financial sector 'may crackdown'

Bank of England: Sam Woods warns financial sector 'may crackdown'

Bank of England

Bankof England Deputy Governor SamWoodson Sunday said that Britain'sfinancialsectorcould face acrackdownby regulators seeking to enforce their rules moretightly.

"I think it's possible that as we come out of the reform phase, and enter a phase where we're defending the reforms that have been put in place, that you may see more enforcement activity,"Woodstold theTelegraphnewspaper.

Woods, who is the head of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the BoE'sbanking supervisory arm, also said the regulator wouldn't necessarily be hostile to consolidation in thebankingsector, according to TheTelegraphreport.

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"We approach these things with caution, we'd have to be sure it made sense for the resulting entity,” he said.

"It's been quite striking to me that really we've only had that one consolidation [inbanking] Virgin Money and Clydesdale. The possibility of others seems to me quite relevant and would not be problematic in principle."

Woods, who was initially in the frame to replace Mark Carney as the British centralbankgovernor, said he will have an eye on the job "next time around." Andrew Bailey, chief executive of theFinancialConduct Authority, will succeed Mark Carney as the BoE's governor on March 16.

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