Due to legal confidentiality requirements, there has been a well highlighted difficulty in the full exchange of information between these regulators. The McDowell group felt strongly that separating the consumer issue from the prudential regulator had two disadvantages. First, it left unresolved the legal problem of the exchange of relevant information and, second, the advantages of a one-stop-shop would be lost in that there would be two official bodies dealing with different aspects of financial services regulation. The McDowell group concluded that, given the requirement imposed by the relevant EU law, the best mechanism for providing for the maximum flow of information between prudential regulators and those concerned with consumer protection was to combine the two functions in one authority. The Government considered that this restriction on the exchange of information was unacceptable. As a result of this and other considerations, the Government decided to propose the structure that is before the House today.