Compliance Monitor

Robert Bell, Partner, Nabarro Nathanson on 020 7524 6452, email: r.bell@nabarro.com

Timon Molloy, Editor

With authority goes responsibility; this month John Virgo, barrister and Philip Ryley, solicitor examine the FSA’s approach to disciplinary action against approved persons and authorised firms.

In previous articles, Adam Samuel has looked at complaint handling under the FSA’s DISP rules. To most compliance specialists, dealing with consumers who are able to refer their causes of dissatisfaction to the Financial Ombudsman Service is dispute resolution in the compliance field. However, he argues, the subject is much larger and more incoherent. Compliance and complaint handling functions have to be aware of a variety of conflicts which cannot be referred to FOS and for the most part are not governed by the FSA. In some areas, the law and even professional bodies have imposed some order. In general, though, dispute resolution within the financial services industry remains a matter of chance and financial muscle, rather than anything related to fairness and justice.

In its first enforcement proceedings against the senior management of an insurer, the FSA has issued prohibition orders against six former directors of Chiyoda Fire and Marine Insurance Company (Europe) Limited (CE) for manipulation of the UK..

Colin Gamwells, past Director and Head of Dealing of Brandeis (Brokers) Ltd, a Ring dealing member of the London Metal Exchange (LME) expelled by the Securities and Futures Authority (SFA) in 2001, and three traders at the firm have been found not..

Investment in property funds by retail customers is not a major concern currently says the FSA, after it found that product literature is “reasonably clear” and that independent financial advisers have “quite a good..

Between December 2000 and March 2003, when Berkeley Jacobs Financial Services Limited concentrated exclusively on early vesting of pensions benefits, the firm’s business in the area was “fundamentally flawed and unfair to..

“We will expand our monitoring activities [in 2004/5] to include television commercials and we will also have a general focus on direct offer materials,” the FSA signalled in its latest Business Plan. The regulator added that it already..

From January 2005 the FSA, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), will have to respond to individual requests for information, including material that does not feature in the ‘publications scheme’, accessible via the homepage..

Robert Middlemiss was fined £15,000 for market abuse last month. In April 2002, while Company Secretary of Profile Media Group (PMG), Mr Middlemiss learnt that Profile Pursuit Inc (PPI), the firm’s US subsidiary, had experienced a major..

“Many consumers remain reluctant to pay up-front fees for financial advice,” observed David Severn, Head of Retail Projects at the FSA, on the publication of its latest proposals on depolarisation at the end of last month. “If..

FSA proposes collective settlement on splits

Financial institutions have faced increasing levels of anti-money laundering legislation in recent years. The latest new law is the Money Laundering Regulations 2003, which, after significant delay, were published in December 2003, and came into force on 1 March 2004. They replace the Money Laundering Regulations 1993 and 2001, and implement the Second EU Money Laundering Directive. Publication of the Regulations allowed the long-awaited release of the 2003 edition of the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group (JMLSG) Guidance Notes for the Financial Sector at the end of January 2004, which give practical direction to the financial sector on complying with their obligations under the legislation. In this article Emma Radmore and Kirsty Gibson of Denton Wilde Sapte provide an overview of some of the main changes for financial institutions.