(9th December) Responding to today’s ‘Edinburgh Reforms’ set out by Chancellor, Lewis Johnston, Director of Policy at ShareAction, the UK’s leading responsible investment NGO, said:

“There are some concerning trends in today’s announcement. Firstly we are concerned that the public will be at greater risk from the Financial Conduct Authority’s Competitive Objective. We need strong, impartial oversight to provide confidence for investors. Our fear is if this proposal is adopted we’ll turn the regulator into a cheer leader for finance sector.

"The Solvency II reforms are a blow for sustainable finance and do nothing to align the insurance sector with the Government’s own net-zero ambitions. Reducing capital requirements for insurers is a reckless decision in the current period of turbulence, and there is no guarantee that it will succeed in its stated aim of unlocking capital for green infrastructure investment.

"We support the principle of bringing in ESG ratings into the remit of the FCA. However this will only work if the FCA has relevant powers to ensure consistency across the industry and the teeth to hold providers to account.”