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Money’s too tight not to mention
Every penny at financial services firms is being scrutinised, say compliance recruiters, which has led to a sluggish job market and leaner pay rises – if you’re lucky enough to get one at all.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 9 - 12 June 2012
News
Martin Currie’s conflict of interest pickle
The Edinburgh-based fund management group Martin Currie has received the FSA’s biggest ever fine for mishandling a conflict of interest – that is, £3.5m ($5.6m) – while..
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 9 - 12 June 2012
Lessons from Shah when making STRs
The regulator is on the warpath about why some firms make what it sees as suspiciously few Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and plans to conduct spot checks. Sara George and Joe Gosden ask how reasonable ‘reasonable grounds to suspect’ need to be and when is making an STR advisable?
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 9 - 12 June 2012
Kumagai’s cautionary tale
Though former UBS head of wealth management John Pottage had a £100,000 fine from the regulator overturned at the Upper Tribunal, the London managing director of Mitsui Sumitomo, Yohichi Kumagai, capitulated to a lifetime ban and personal fine of £119,303. Peter Wright and Molly Ahmed outline how the case illustrates particular compliance concerns and the FSA’s “crystal clear” intentions to keep pursuing senior managers for breaches.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 9 - 12 June 2012
Life breathed into living wills
The FSA published delayed feedback to its autumn 2011 consultation on Recovery and Resolution Plans (RRPs) in May 2012. The main message was ‘watch this space’ as the regulator has decided to delay its final rules yet further. But it has published some significant changes to its proposals. Rosali Pretorius and Andrew Barber answer main questions arising from the feedback.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 9 - 12 June 2012
Be very afraid of the ‘fright factor’
The FSA’s determination to hold individual senior executives – such as former UBS Wealth Management UK CEO John Pottage – responsible for compliance failures under their watch will have negative consequences, Tom Custance and Deepak Arora contend.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 9 - 12 June 2012
Memo to the board
Adam Samuel drafts a template communication to directors about inadequate resourcing for complaint handling.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 9 - 12 June 2012
The troubled state of projection rates
Further to recent research by PwC, the FSA proposes in CP12/10 to revise down the return assumptions used to inform customers of investments’ likely performance and also to increase the span of flanking rates either side of the intermediate figure. Adam Samuel scours through past and present quagmires in a “tawdry story”.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
A decision notice on trial – and defeated
As the regulator’s aggressive enforcement strategy continues, more individuals are fighting their corner in the Upper Tribunal. But in a recent case the FSA’s own process was put under scrutiny in the High Court – which has issued a costly quashing order regarding a decision notice that failed to address the claimant’s representations. Steven Francis and Alex Lincoln-Antoniou report.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
News
Barclays’ LIBOR compliance lacuna
Barclays reached a settlement that sees it paying $450m to US and UK regulators because of its role in the LIBOR and EURIBOR manipulation scandal. The FSA has imposed a £59.5m fine – its..
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
Temporary product intervention rules: transient or intransigent?
Temporary product intervention rules may be conceived as temporary, but stricter regulation of financial products and their design is here to stay, comment Charlotte Hill and William Maycock. They discuss the imminent regime along with fears that it will give the regulator too much power and stifle innovation within the sector.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
Stranger danger: lessons for regulated branches and subsidiaries
Recent enforcement actions against firms and approved persons with overseas head offices should sound warning bells to all FSA-authorised firms with an international client base for whom a UK presence serves greater global needs. Emma Radmore and Katharine Harle look at lessons from two recent cases.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
Guidance on replacement business and CIPs, along with payments to platforms, may be underestimated
The Retail Conduct Risk Outlook 2012, like that of the previous year, highlighted platforms and centralised investment propositions (CIPs) as emerging risks. And now the FSA has published a new consultation paper (12/12) on ‘Payments to Platform Service Providers and Cash Rebates from Providers to Consumers’. Together with the guidance contained in its consultation on replacement business and CIPs, it is clear that most firms need to review their business models thoroughly to ensure that they embrace best market and regulatory practice. These papers should serve as a red alert for all advisory firms, say Jayne Adair and Roisin Hynes, who illustrate that some have underestimated their impact.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
Advertising industry awards as a past performance claim
If you have won ‘Independent Financial Adviser of the Year’ you will likely want to crow about it – only you must first negotiate a regulatory minefield. Adam Samuel reports.
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
The bad professor
Dynamic Decisions Capital Management founder Alberto Micalizzi’s behaviour “is amongst the most serious that the FSA has encountered” and he “has demonstrated a total lack of honesty and integrity” says the regulator. So why has he escaped criminal prosecution, asks Chris Hamblin?
Online Published Date:
12 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012
Liar LIBOR
The Champagne-fuelled, bloated bubble of those years has long since burst, but the long and bitter hangover continues and has lurched into another phase. Public and political anger have been enflamed by publication of Barclays’ final notice from the FSA for LIBOR and EURIBOR manipulation, which was facilitated by a severe lack of systems and controls around submission of data contributing to these rates. Banks hardly needed another scandal on their hands but those that were allegedly involved in interest rate rigging now face a Parliamentary inquiry, possible criminal charges from the Serious Fraud Office as well as pressure to claw back bonuses. Alexandra Carn reports on the compliance context and potential legal actions.
Online Published Date:
31 July 2012
Appeared in issue:
Vol 24 No 10 - 12 July 2012