Our governing statute is the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) (the Act).

Our primary objectives

3. Under the Act, we have two primary objectives: (i) a general objective, to promote the safety and soundness of the firms we regulate; and (ii) an objective specific to our regulation of insurers, to contribute to the securing of an appropriate degree of protection for those who are or may become policyholders.

4. The Act requires us to advance our general objective primarily by seeking to:

• ensure that the business of the firms we regulate is carried on in a way that avoids any adverse effect on the stability of the UK financial system; and

• minimise the adverse effect that the failure of one of the firms we regulate could be expected to have on the stability of the UK financial system.

5. The advancement of our general objective of safety and soundness of PRA-authorised persons includes the continued focus on ring-fencing to support the safeguarding of the continuity of core services (retail deposits and related payment and overdraft services). This requires us to discharge our functions in a way that seeks to:

• ensure that the business of ring-fenced bodies (RFBs) is carried on in a way that avoids any adverse effect on the continuity of the provision in the UK of core services;