New U.K. government moves to transform FRC into ARGA

Within two weeks of gaining power, the U.K.’s newly elected Labor government has confirmed its intention to beef up the audit regulator and strengthen corporate governance.

In Wednesday’s King’s Speech—which sets out the government’s legislative agenda for the next Parliament—Prime Minister Keir Starmer added the Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill to the list of 40 bills the government hopes to pass.

At the core of the draft legislation is the government’s aim to transform the current regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), into the Audit, Reporting, and Governance Authority (ARGA).