Who we are
You wouldn’t give money to someone you didn’t trust, would you?
Making a deposit into a bank or building society account is like giving your trust to that organisation. You trust that it will look after your money and, when you want to access that money again, it will be there. The same goes when buying a policy with an insurer, you expect it to pay out when you need it.
These are the companies that hold your money for you so that you can make and receive payments and control your financial life.
There is a responsibility that comes with that. That’s where the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) comes in.
As part of the Bank of England, it is our role to ensure that firms act safely and reduce the chance of getting into financial difficulty.
We, at the PRA, create policies for firms to follow as well as watch over aspects of the business – we call this supervision. We want to ensure the financial services and products we all rely on can be provided in a safe and sound way. We supervise around 1,500 firms including large UK deposit taking banks, insurance companies, UK operations of systemically important international banks, as well as new entrants with new business models.
