According to a recent announcement from deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, Britain’s investment screening powers are set to be pared back.
This comes with the aim of making them friendlier for businesses, and the current UK screening powers are part of the National Security Investment act that have been in place for less than two years.
Individual investors and companies alike often seek out investment advice in Shropshire, Buckinghamshire and other counties before acting. Wealth managers are independent financial advisors (IFAs), and are often relied on for an unbiased opinion of different assets and their potential risks and return.
Dowden is now launching a review aimed at refining and narrowing the Act, which empowers the UK government to examine and ultimately stop takeovers from happening.
When interviewed by the UK’s Financial Times, the deputy PM said he wanted to make sure that government regulation is keeping in line with the dynamism present in the private sector, and that it involved as little strain from regulation as required.
The news marks the second instance recently where the UK government has advised it intends to dilute its own rules after it took the measure to ditch legislation concerning governance, even after it was brought before parliament.
The UK government introduced the new screening powers last year in January to address specific security concerns. It found that overseas powers like China were able to purchase UK companies of national importance in the technology and other sectors too easily, representing a potential threat to national security.
