Britain's financial regulator said on Tuesday it has done “basic contingency planning” in case Scotland votes this month to become an independent country.
But should Scotland leave the United Kingdom, lawmakers in Edinburgh would have to decide how their financial market should be regulated, Financial Conduct Authority Chairman John Griffith-Jones said.
“We have done some basic contingency planning,” Mr. Griffith-Jones told Parliament’s Treasury Select Committee.
The rival Scottish campaigns are running neck-and-neck nine days before the referendum, with a surge in support for those who wish to break away, a TNS poll showed on Tuesday. The poll follows one in a Sunday newspaper that put the pro-independence camp ahead for the first time this year.
The FCA’s plans include “making sure that phone lines are properly manned if people ring up...making sure we have a position around what advice would be appropriate to be given around day one — when consumers ask what should I do,” Mr. Griffith-Jones said.
Working out the detail was likely to “turn out to be complicated,” he added.
