s 312L Critical third parties
(1) The Treasury may by regulations designate a person who provides services to one or more authorised persons, relevant service providers or FMI entities as a “critical third party”. (2) The Treasury may designate a person under subsection (1) only if in the Treasury’s opinion a failure in, or disruption to, the provision of those services (either individually or, where more than one service is provided, taken together) could threaten the stability of, or confidence in, the UK financial system. (3) The Treasury must have regard to the following factors when forming an opinion for the purposes of subsection (2)— (a) the materiality of the services provided to the delivery, by any person, of essential activities, services or operations (wherever carried out); (b) the number and type of authorised persons, relevant service providers or FMI entities to which the person provides services. (4) Before making regulations under subsection (1) the Treasury must— (a) consult each of the relevant regulators and such other persons as the Treasury consider appropriate, (b) give notice in writing to the person to be designated specifying a reasonable period within which that person may make representations in writing about the proposal to the Treasury, and (c) have regard to any representations made to them in accordance with paragraph (b). (5) The Treasury may not designate the Bank of England under subsection (1). (6) Each of the following is a relevant regulator for the purposes of this Chapter— (a) the FCA, (b) the PRA, and (c) the Bank of England. (7) Activities, services or operations are “ essential ” for the purposes of subsection (3) if they are essential to— (a) the economy of the United Kingdom, or (b) the stability of, or confidence in, the UK financial system. (8) In this Chapter— “ critical third party ” means a person designated under subsection (1); “ FMI entity ” means— a recognised clearing house; a recognised CSD; a recognised investment exchange which is not an overseas investment exchange; a recognised payment system under section 184 of the Banking Act 2009; a person specified as a service provider in relation to a recognised payment system under section 206A of the Banking Act 2009; “ relevant service provider ” means— an electronic money institution as defined by regulation 2(1) of the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 ( S.I. 2011/99 ); an authorised payment institution, small payment institution or registered account information services provider as defined by regulation 2(1) of the Payment Services Regulations 2017 ( S.I. 2017/752 ); “ service ” includes facility.