By Lawrence White and Phoebe Seers
LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority will cut the frequency of supervisory meetings for big banks to every two years, it said on Thursday, as Britain's financial authorities respond to political pressure to cut red tape and promote growth.
"As we set out our priorities for 2026, we are also updating our approach by moving from an annual to a two-year supervisory cycle for firms," BoE Deputy Governor Sam Woods said in a statement.
"This will allow us to make our operations more efficient and help streamline firms' interactions with the PRA."
The BoE will reduce the frequency of Periodic Summary Meetings, formal reviews that consider the risks a given regulated bank may pose to the central bank's broader objectives, to every other year.
A person familiar with the BoE's thinking, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the shift to a two-year supervisory cycle was the central bank's own decision and not the result of industry lobbying. The move is seen as a way to support the BoE's secondary objective of growth and competitiveness without compromising financial stability, the person said.
Robert Dedman, a partner at law firm CMS and former head of enforcement at the PRA, said the plan was sensible and chimed with the government's growth agenda.
"Preparing for annual meetings takes up senior management time and bandwidth that could be better used in running the business," Dedman said.
Other recent moves to cut red tape for banks, amid pressure from the Labour government to promote growth alongside financial stability, have gone too far, some experts have said.
Two former BoE officials on Thursday said the central bank had made a mistake by lowering capital requirements for banks at a time when risks to the financial sector are on the rise.
GLOBAL DRIVE TO CUT RED TAPE FOR BANKS
Seventeen years on from the global financial crisis, regulators worldwide are looking for ways to ease the regulatory burden on banks, led by the Trump administration in the U.S.
Bank regulators appointed by President Donald Trump are seeking to delay and water down the introduction of new rules, and they are reviewing and rewriting existing capital regulations, freeing up capital for banks that politicians hope will boost lending and, ultimately, growth.
Recent changes in Britain include simplifying capital requirements for smaller firms, cutting red tape for insurers, and reducing regulatory requirements for customer-owned building societies and other mutual credit providers, the BoE said.
(Reporting by Muvija M, Lawrence White and Phoebe Seers. Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Mark Potter)
