An opportunity to hear from Lord Sharkey on the future of consumer protection, access to justice and accountability in UK financial services regulation.

The UK’s financial services sector is one of the country’s most important economic assets. But its long-term success depends on more than competitiveness and growth: it depends on public confidence, fair treatment and effective protection for consumers when things go wrong.

As the Financial Services and Markets Bill [HL] 2026 progresses through Parliament, important questions are being raised about whether the proposed reforms will preserve the protections that consumers rely on, or risk weakening them.

Join Transparency Task Force for a timely event with Lord Sharkey, a longstanding advocate for consumer protection and accountability in financial services. He will discuss his concerns about the Bill, the parliamentary efforts to strengthen its consumer safeguards, and the implications for ordinary people who rely on financial products and services.

Why does this Bill matter?

Financial services regulation can sometimes appear technical, dealing with regulatory powers, institutional responsibilities and the details of how complaints are handled. Yet these decisions can have profound consequences for millions of people.

At the heart of the debate is a fundamental question: when a consumer suffers financial harm, will they have a realistic opportunity to obtain justice?

One of the most significant areas of concern is the future of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Parliament established the Ombudsman to provide an independent, accessible and relatively informal route to redress, particularly for individuals who may lack the resources to challenge a financial institution through the courts.

A defining feature of the service is its ability to decide complaints according to what is “fair and reasonable in all the circumstances”. Lord Sharkey and other parliamentarians have expressed concern about proposed reforms that could affect this important safeguard.

Other issues include the potential impact of complaint time limits on consumers who may not discover the consequences of unsuitable advice, inappropriate products or hidden charges until many years later. There are also broader questions about the balance of responsibility between Parliament and financial regulators, and whether transferring protections from legislation into regulatory rules could reduce parliamentary oversight of consumer rights.

These are not simply technical or procedural matters. They concern access to justice, accountability and whether the financial services system commands the confidence of the public it is intended to serve.

What will Lord Sharkey discuss?

Drawing on his work in Parliament and his engagement with the Bill, Lord Sharkey will explore:

• Consumer protection: whether the proposed reforms maintain the safeguards necessary to ensure consumers are treated fairly.

• The Financial Ombudsman Service: the importance of independent, accessible redress and the potential consequences of changes to its role and powers.

• Access to justice: whether consumers will retain a meaningful opportunity to challenge financial harm, particularly when its consequences emerge years after the event.

• Parliamentary accountability: the implications of transferring responsibility for consumer protections from statute to regulatory rulebooks.

• The balance between growth and protection: why effective regulation and consumer confidence should be seen as essential to a successful and internationally competitive financial services sector.

• The role of Parliament: the opportunities for parliamentarians to scrutinise the Bill and press for improvements that put consumers’ interests at the heart of financial services regulation.

The discussion will provide an opportunity to reflect on the challenges of securing stronger consumer protections through the legislative process, the concerns that remain, and what parliamentarians can do to help ensure the final legislation serves the public interest.