Liz Truss, frontrunner to be the next prime minister, is set to immediately review the roles and responsibilities of the City of London's top regulators if she wins, campaign insiders told the Financial Times.
Truss (pictured), who is reportedly privately critical of the Financial Conduct Authority, is weighing up plans to merge the regulator with the Prudential Regulation Authority, which sits within the Bank of England, and the Payments Systems Regulator into a new body.
A well-placed financial services executive told the Financial Times that the foreign secretary, who is currently 32 points ahead of Rishi Sunak in the latest Conservative party members poll, wants to overhaul financial regulation as part of "a wider war on technocrats" and civil servants.
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Truss's leadership campaign declined to comment on the proposals, but an official said: "No decisions have been made on the future of regulators. Liz will look at their role as part of a review. She's clear that there has not been enough focus on economic growth."
The leaders of the three organisations' futures could be in jeopardy if the FCA and the other organisations merged to form a new regulator, but FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi is viewed as the most at risk in light of the regulator's recent scandals.
The PSR and BoE declined to comment on a potential regulators' merger when approached by the Financial Times. The FCA said it was "unable to comment".
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The proposed changes would be the most significant overhaul of the UK's financial regulatory agencies in more than a decade.
Former chancellor George Osborne oversaw the dissolution of the Financial Services Authority in 2010, which he had criticised for allowing the UK's financial system to plunge into crisis unchecked, and the separation of the prudential and conduct regulators.
Truss has also called for a review of the Bank of England's mandate, while pushing back against some in her party who have argued for the central bank to lose independence.
