UK sets out financial regulation reforms, including review of accountability rules

Britain's finance ministry on Friday set out plans to overhaul the financial sector including a review of rules to make bankers accountable for their decisions and easing capital requirements on smaller lenders.

The City has been largely cut off from the European Union by Brexit, putting pressure on the government to ease rules as Amsterdam overtook London to become Europe's top share trading centre. "The government's approach to reforming the financial services regulatory landscape recognises and protects the foundations on which the UK's success as a financial services hub is built: agility, consistently high regulatory standards, and openness," the finance ministry said in a statement.

The batch of planned reforms also include a review of short-selling rules, overhauling prospectuses issued by companies when they list, and a plan for repealing and reforming rules that were introduced when Britain was in the EU.