Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 22 October 2026
source“Bankers set for a £2bn boost as regulators reveal plans to relax rules brought in after the financial crisis”
R6/ 10
Spin-heavy
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates the Daily Mail's claim that bankers get a "£2bn boost" from deregulation a 6/10 because the headline turns a decade-long compliance saving for firms, quoted directly from the PRA, into what reads like an immediate personal windfall for individual bankers.
The Verdict
Spin-heavy. The £2bn figure is real and comes straight from the regulator, but the headline strips out the one detail that changes its scale: it's a projected saving spread over ten years, averaging roughly £200m a year, not a lump sum. It also swaps the PRA's own language of firms saving on administrative costs for a framing about "bankers" getting a "boost," conflating institutional compliance savings with personal gain for bank staff.
What actually happened
The PRA and FCA announced plans at a Mansion House dinner to scrap the certification regime that currently subjects 139,000 financial services staff to annual checks, and to end pre-approval requirements for all but the most senior roles such as chief executives, finance directors and chairmen. The PRA said the move is expected to save firms £2billion over a ten-year period, while keeping checks in place for top roles.
Key facts
- Certification regime covering 139,000 staff to be abolished; introduced a decade ago "to instil a culture of accountability."
- Pre-approval requirement scrapped for all but the most senior roles (CEOs, FDs, chairmen); senior checks remain.
- PRA's own stated savings figure: £2billion over a ten-year period, not a one-off or annual sum.
- Some of the changes will require legislation before taking effect.
- Context the headline omits: a bonus cap was already scrapped in 2023, and banks are separately braced for a £2billion tax raid in the upcoming Budget.
What to watch for
Watch whether coverage of the eventual legislation specifies the saving as annualised (roughly £200m/year) once the ten-year framing can no longer hide behind the round £2bn number. Also worth tracking is whether "bankers" (individual pay/bonuses) and "banks" (firm-level compliance costs) keep getting blurred as this story develops, and whether the senior-role accountability checks survive the legislative process intact.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
