Prudential regulation

The Bank of England prudentially regulates and supervises financial services firms through the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).

In this section

We are the Prudential Regulation Authority

As part of the Bank of England, we are responsible for the prudential regulation and supervision of around 1,330 banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers and major investment firms. Find out which firms we regulate

We create policy for the firms we regulate to follow, enacted through the PRA Rulebook. Our rules require financial firms to maintain sufficient capital and have adequate risk controls in place. 

We also supervise firms, to ensure that we have a comprehensive overview of their activities so that we can step in if they are not being run in a safe and sound way or, in the case of insurers, if they are not protecting policyholders adequately. 

Our four objectives:

Promote the safety and soundness of the firms we regulate

Contribute to securing an appropriate degree of protection for insurance policyholders

Facilitate effective competition between firms

Facilitate the international competitiveness of the UK economy (in particular the financial services sector) and its growth in the medium to long term

Latest news and publications

More PRA publications

Subject to any transitional relief, PRA supervisory statements and PRA statements of policy applicable before 11pm Thursday 31 December 2020 should be read in conjunction with Supervisory Statement (SS) 1/19. This sets out how we expect firms to interpret EU-based references in non-binding PRA regulatory and supervisory materials after the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and the end of the transition period.

Information on other PRA publications can be found using the link below.

For a more in-depth look at our key regulatory news and publications for month, read our latest Regulatory Digest.

Our latest reports

Our annual report sets out our work on our strategic goals and statutory obligations and our business plan sets out our strategy, workplan and budget. 

This page was last updated 03 December 2024