UK's FCA seeks to streamline capital rules for investment firms

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Financial Conduct Authority is seeking to streamline rules on the funds investment firms must hold to absorb losses and maintain resilience in distressed markets, with proposed changes it said could cut red tape by as much as 70%.

The watchdog, which is currently working to simplify the regulation of Britain's financial industry to boost growth and competitiveness, said the proposals to remove the EU-derived rules would reduce the time and resources investment firms spend interpreting and applying the requirements.

It said there would be no change to the mandates around the amount of capital firms must hold.

Some of the rules were designed for banks, the FCA said, making them over-complex and only partially relevant to the vast majority of investment firms.

"We want the revised framework to be proportionate, effective, and aligned with the needs of investment firms while maintaining high standards of financial resilience and consumer protection," Simon Walls, interim executive director of markets, said in a statement.

(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru and Sinead Cruise in London; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Kate Mayberry)