Transparency Taskforce Set To Establish Financial Stability Parliamentary Group

Transparency Taskforce, chaired by founder Andy Agathangelou, will hold a meeting on financial stability at the House of Commons on Wednesday (7 February) to discuss the proposed APPG's aims, which it outlines in a white paper entitled Ideas to Help Reduce the Chance of Another Global Financial Crisis.

The white paper reads: "It is now some ten years since the Global Financial Crisis, and therefore a timely moment to reflect, refocus and reconsider what else can be done to prevent something similar happening again.

"Financial stability is a precious public good that warrants nurturing and protecting; and thinking about financial stability through the clear-eyed lens of transparency offers an opportunity to cut through to what really matters and allow the key public policy issues that arise to be dealt with responsibly and rationally.

"In this respect, we must counter the danger that the policy response to the last crisis will shape a future one, because in regulatory and monetary terms, we may be "fighting the last war." 

The paper goes on to list a number of approaches to global financial stability the APPG would promote, such as harnessing "the transformational power of transparency" and understanding "the reality and consequences of the reverse intermediation nature of the banking system".

It adds that the asset management sector should be forced to "adopt a more nuanced regulatory approach that better reflects the different investment horizons of savers", in order to "understand what forces are at play that are causing long-term investors to behave like short-term investors" and "tackle the ‘cult of liquidity' that exacerbates pressures".

Gallery: The biggest regulatory initiatives since the financial crisis

Agathangelou said in a statement the new APPG "will form a highly valuable ‘whole system' view of the financial ecosystem and will look into many known problem areas including the general lack of transparency in the system and needless short-termism in the pensions and investment sector".

Transparency Taskforce was involved in a dispute with the Investment Association in January over comments made by the trade body in a 2016 press release, which claimed hidden fees were the "loch ness monster of investment", implying they do not exist.

Agathangelou wrote a letter to the Chris Cummings, which he also addressed to the Prime Minister Theresa May and FCA chair Andrew Bailey, demanding the press release was deleted. Shortly after, the IA complied with Agathangelou's wishes.

In announcing the APPG's launch Agathangelou addressed a letter to Her Majesty the Queen, seen by Investment Week, in which he said she had not been given "satisfactory answers" when she "enquired as to why so few experts [had seen] the global financial crisis coming".

He added: "It would be an honour to keep you updated on the outcome of the meeting… and I would welcome your general thoughts on this volunteer driven initiative."

Commenting on the impending launch of the APPG, Tory Peer James Randolph Lindesay-Bethune - the Earl of Lindsay - said: "There is universal shared interest in avoiding another Global Financial Crisis so I am pleased to play my part in supporting the new All Party Parliamentary Group on Financial Stability.

"We wish to consider ideas from a wide range of stakeholders; the strongest ideas will be developed into fledgling policy proposals for consideration by regulators, government departments and so on.