Compliance Monitor

Sants' swan song In the FSA chief executive officer’s final speech before he leaves the regulator at the end of June, Hector Sants called for more action to deliver effective corporate governance. He noted that while a lot of progress has..

In a serious blow for the regulator’s attempts to pin responsibility for compliance breaches on senior figures at large firms, former UBS head of wealth management John Pottage has triumphed at the Upper Tribunal. This seems an odd fight for the FSA to have picked, comments Steven Francis.

Banks are well positioned to take advantage of the booming market in mobile payments; however, there are a raft of European and domestic regulatory requirements that they must take into consideration. Andrew Barber and Emma Radmore provide an outline.

The Financial Services Authority plans to make greater use of thematic reviews going forward, but “many firms will not yet have had exposure to this particular regulatory treat,” says Richard Scrivener. He details what to expect.

The FSA’s recent report into anti-bribery systems and controls in investment banks found that the 15 institutions in its thematic study were too slow and reactive in managing their bribery and corruption risks. Steven Francis looks in detail at some of the more difficult aspects of bribery and corruption controls, and considers how firms might respond generally to thematic reviews.

As the FSA finalises its latest with-profits reforms, Adam Samuel delves into their murky depths and points out that the regulator’s new product intervention policy has in fact been around a little while.

Responding to concerns such as the US ‘flash crash’ of 2010, ESMA has published detailed guidelines covering systems and controls in an automated trading environment. Andrew Shrimpton and Nick Inman explain their implications for various UK firms.

Offering ‘simplified advice’ promises to be as onerous for firms as a full advice model, so many may not trouble to take it up, argue Charlotte Hill and Victoria Silver.