CMA removes 23 market remedies and keeps 6 after review of 33

The Competition and Markets Authority said on Wednesday it will remove 23 market remedies, remove two in part and retain six, concluding most of a review of 33 measures.

The decision covers 31 of the 33 remedies, which are orders and undertakings imposed after market investigations and which the regulator judged might no longer be needed.

Juliette Enser, executive director of enforcement and markets at the CMA, said in August that such measures “should only remain in place where they are needed”.

The CMA said remedies improve competition, but businesses must dedicate resources to complying with them, and the CMA or other bodies must monitor them.

It said removing the 23 reduces unnecessary burdens on businesses, and that some had been superseded by new laws and regulations.

The 23 removals match the number proposed in the provisional decision of 12 August, which named extended warranties on domestic electrical goods among the areas affected.

That provisional list also covered package holidays and tour operators, and the on-air promotion of magazines published or sold by the BBC.

The 33 remedies examined made up 60% of all CMA market remedies in place, after the regulator excluded those clearly still delivering impact.

On the case page, the CMA lists the Home Credit Market Investigation Order and the carbonated drinks undertakings given by Coca Cola and Schweppes Beverages as varied.

In August the CMA proposed partial removals covering retail banking, home credit, private motor insurance and certain soft drinks, retaining the parts that still protect consumers.

The same August proposals would have kept six remedies in full: current account switching services, local bus services, two on domestic LPG supply used as heating fuel, and two on soft drinks.

The final decision retains six remedies, the same number as proposed then.

The CMA is still weighing consultation responses on partly removing the Retail Banking Market Investigation Order 2017 and the Private Motor Insurance Market Investigation Order 2015, “given the range of views received”.

For retail banking, the August proposal was to remove Parts 3, 4, 7, 9, 10 and 11 of the order and keep all other parts.

The order underpins the Open Banking remedy, which required the nine largest banks in Great Britain and Northern Ireland to release current account data sets by 13 January 2018.

The CMA announced on 12 January 2023 that its Open Banking roadmap was substantially complete, with six of those nine providers having implemented every requirement.

Those six were Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander.

The review began on 19 January 2026, when the CMA asked whether any change of circumstances meant each remedy was no longer appropriate and should be amended or removed.

Consultation responses to that launch were due by 2 March, and responses to the provisional decision were due by 11 September.

The CMA expects to announce its decision on the retail banking and private motor insurance orders in November.