Treasury committee asks FCA to investigate budget leak that moved bank shares

Bloomberg published bank surcharge detail more than an hour before budget statement

John Healey is facing questions over whether he permitted a market-sensitive Budget leak before his statement, with the chair of the Commons Treasury select committee asking the Financial Conduct Authority and the Treasury to investigate. Meg Hillier wrote to Treasury permanent secretary James Bowler and the FCA’s chief executive after Bloomberg published details of a bank tax change more than an hour before the chancellor spoke and bank share prices moved.

Healey presented the financial statement and budget report to the House of Commons on 28 October. Bloomberg published its story at 10.45am that day, reporting that the bank corporation tax surcharge would be lower than the 8% that lenders had feared and that the increase would only be temporary. Shortly before Healey left Downing Street to deliver his budget statement in the Commons at 12.30pm, the prices of shares in banks moved.

In letters to Bowler and to the FCA, Hillier set out the two elements of the Bloomberg story — that the bank surcharge would not reach 8% and that it would be temporary. She noted that Budget 2026 confirmed the Bank Corporation Tax Surcharge would temporarily rise from 3% to 6% for 15 months from 1 January 2027, to fund breathing space measures for households. Noting that the story quoted “people familiar with the matter,” she wrote that it “appears to have been more than idle speculation, and it had implications for relevant securities.”

Writing directly to the FCA, Hillier noted the regulator’s responsibility for “market cleanliness” and its implementation of “the UK’s market abuse regulation.” She said she would welcome its view on “whether this event might be considered an improper release of inside information” and its assessment of the impact on the market in relevant securities.

Separately, she urged Bowler to confirm that banks, or any representatives of them or their trade bodies, were not told of the changes in outline or with specifics before the budget, and to say how many people had access to the information related to the bank surcharge changes.

Healey confirmed the surcharge change as he told MPs: “I am looking to our banks to help fund breathing space for British families. And so banks will pay an extra 3% on the bank surcharge. This will be time-limited to pay for immediate support on energy bills, starting in January, ending 15 months later.”

Commons sources said they were concerned that bankers were able to make money out of the measures that were leaked to Bloomberg an hour and a half before the measures were confirmed.

The chancellor will be asked to explain the leak when he appears before the committee next month. Hillier said: “Alongside the concerns about potential improper disclosure, if it turns out that anyone made money on the stock market from insider information that was supposed to be announced by the chancellor at the despatch box then that would be incredibly serious.” She added: “As I set out in my letters to the FCA and the Treasury, I expect both organisations to be looking into exactly what happened with urgency.”