Financial Services Act 1986
The Financial Services Act 1986 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the government of Margaret Thatcher to regulate the financial services industry. The act used a mixture of governmental regulation and self-regulation, and created a Securities and Investments Board presiding over various new self-regulating organisations. It was superseded by the Act 2000">Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom">Act 2000.
Context
The act may be thought of as an “emasculated Gower”. Professor Laurence Gower had been asked to produce a report on financial regulation, followed by a draft bill. He tended towards a tighter and more top-heavy regime. The Thatcher government became impatient with this process and pushed a second bill through in place of Gower with more emphasis on self-regulation but containing most of the regulatory content of the Gower bill.This relatively light approach to regulation followed a trend taking place in America under the Reagan administration.