---

Banking Bill

Amendment 166 amends Clause 189(1). Clause 189 is headed ““Role of FSA””, but the first two subsections describe what the Bank should do in relation to the FSA and not what the FSA should do. I have proposed the deletion of subsection (1) for a different reason. It says: "““In exercising powers under this Part the Bank … shall have regard to any action that the FSA has taken or could take””." Does that mean that the Bank will have to make itself omniscient about what the FSA does and, even harder, what the FSA might do? I am sure that the Bank should have regard to anything that the FSA tells it, and my amendment allows for that. It might also be reasonable for the Bank to have regard to anything that it happened to know about the FSA’s actions. But I do not think that it is reasonable to impose on the Bank some kind of all-knowingness about what has happened or might happen in the FSA. I beg to move.