i-law.com - Newsletter (Compliance Monitor)

On 13 May, the Treasury Committee published its report on consumers’ access to financial services. Its recommendations on basic current accounts, discriminatory pricing and potentially shared service branches could have a significant impact on firms. Moreover, it reiterated the arguments for a legal duty of care owed to customers and asked the regulator to conclude its consultation with a timetable published this Autumn. Caroline Stevenson examines the key messages from the report.

Online Published Date: 08 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019

Leaving LIBOR – bigger than Brexit?

The monumental scandal of traders allegedly colluding to manipulate the world’s primary interest-rate reference for the benefit of their own financial positions, ultimately set up the UK regulator’s decision two years ago to scrap the beleaguered benchmark. But LIBOR underpins transactions that are cumulatively worth hundreds of trillions, so the conversion to alternatives constitutes a mammoth compliance task. Neasa MacErlean reports.

Online Published Date: 09 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019

Sexual harassment and the SMCR

In keeping with the #MeToo era, sexual misconduct has been flagged by the financial regulator as a relevant matter when assessing the integrity, fitness and propriety of individuals within the industry. Elliot Francis explains how this issue relates to the overhauled accountability regime for financial services.

Online Published Date: 09 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019

Consumer credit cases soar at FOS

The Financial Ombudsman Service’s Annual Review provides a useful yardstick of emerging issues in the industry – such as an 89 per cent surge in consumer credit-related complaints over the past year. Other themes include claims about banking IT failures, treatment of fraud victims and a focus on the detriment suffered by loyal insurance customers. Adam Samuel analyses the review.

Online Published Date: 09 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019

The criminal future of AML enforcement

With the Financial Conduct Authority avowing stronger intentions to use its criminal powers when enforcing cases of egregiously poor anti-money laundering performance, it is only a matter of time before they ‘cross the Rubicon’, write Claire Cross and Nick Barnard.

Online Published Date: 09 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019

Firms’ complaints data casts doubt on ‘customer-centric’ culture

The latest data shows that, apart from PPI, the most complained-about products were current accounts, credit cards and motor insurance, with significant increases in complaints about the latter two categories. For an industry purporting to champion a customer-centric culture, a 60 per cent uphold rate for complaints indicates there is room for improvement, comments Denis O’Connor.

Online Published Date: 09 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019

What have we learned from the Senior Managers and Certification Regime?

While the SMCR undoubtedly spurs individuals in the financial services industry to take their particular responsibilities very seriously, there are challenging unintended consequences for the reputation of employees, the talent pool and the decision-making process. Adrian Crawford and Francesca Lopez discuss what they are seeing in the marketplace.

Online Published Date: 09 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019

Let’s look beyond raids at results

The FCA has reported that it carried out more dawn raids last year than in any year since 2010. But – in an era where the regulator is opening more cases, spending a higher budget and employing more staff – Syedur Rahman argues that the reasons for the raids and the results they produce are more important than the numbers.

Online Published Date: 09 July 2019

Appeared in issue: Vol 31 No 10 - 01 July 2019