On May 20, 2015, the PRA published a Policy Statement on depositor and dormant account protection which sets out the final rules that aim to reduce the adverse effects that the failure of a firm may have on the stability of the UK financial system as well as improve depositor confidence. The Policy Statement includes the amended rules for the Depositor Protection and Dormant Account Scheme rules in the PRA Rulebook. An updated Supervisory Statement on the PRA's expectations of firms in connection to the amended rules was also published on the same day. The amended rules include a definition of public authority, extend deposit protection to deposits held by local authorities with an annual budget of up to €500,000, add a requirement for firms to inform depositors of deposits that are no longer covered by a deposit guarantee scheme from July 3, 2015 and a new requirement for deposit-takers to provide the Financial Services Compensation Scheme with information held on dormant accounts that have been transferred to a dormant account fund operator.
The PRA's Policy Statement is available at: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/Documents/publications/ps/2015/ps915.pdf and the updated Supervisory Statement is available at: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/pra/Documents/publications/ss/2015/ss1815update.pdf.
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