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(Bloomberg) — Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said the chairman of Britain’s antitrust watchdog resigned because she knew it would be difficult to make way for someone who shares her Labor government’s “mission to prioritize growth.” “It’s time.
Speaking with Bloomberg in Davos, he said Markus Boekerink’s departure from the Competition and Markets Authority was an example of the government trying to prop up the economy. Regulators need to regulate “not just for risk but for growth,” Reeves said. “This government has a different strategic approach – they recognize now is the time to move forward.”
Growth is his “number one mission”, but the economy remains smaller than when the Labor Party came to power in July, with businesses blaming the big tax increases in his October budget.
Reeves said Britain is changing its regulatory landscape to reflect the new world in which President Donald Trump plans major regulation. Reeves said the UK is responding, and is already moving faster than the EU on financial regulation. Last week, it delayed the implementation of the new set of financial stability rules, Basel 3.1, from January 2026 until next year.
“We have pushed back the implementation of Basel 3 since the election of Donald Trump. We are ahead of the EU in recognizing that the world has changed,” he told John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News. “Our regulators are keen to be pragmatic and recognize the importance of attracting investment to the UK.”
Asked whether she would go further and end ring fencing, whereby UK retail banks of large groups have to be operated separately to protect against any shocks to other functions such as investment banking, Reeves said: ” “We always keep an open mind on things.”
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