Compliance Monitor

In this month’s regular update on European financial services developments we review: the European Parliament’s support for the draft Regulation on Cross-border payments in Euros; and the Council of Ministers adopts a new Directive on Money Laundering.

European fund regulation 2002 24-25 January 2002 The Dorchester, London Tel: +44 (0) 1932 893854 Fax: +44 (0) 1932 893893 Website: www.ibc-financial.com Contingency planning and disaster recovery for the financial services sector 29-30 January..

11 September has added new urgency to UK initiatives against financial crime and especially money laundering. In this major article Gary Hagland, a former compliance officer, considers organised economic crime and money laundering from the compliance function perspective against the backdrop of strengthened statute law and regulation.

The concept of notification is fundamental to the effectiveness of any regulator and it is sometimes overlooked or ignored by the authorised person in consequence of which they face investigation and enforcement action. Philip Ryley, solicitor and John Virgo, barrister provide an overview of the notification requirements contained in the Supervision Manual of the FSA Handbook.

The Financial Services Authority has adopted a risk-based approach to regulation as the most efficient route to meeting its own statutory objectives under the Financial Services Markets Act 2000. Firms, which face similar resourcing constraints and need to adjust to the new second generation, “non-tickbox”, high-level regulation, are starting to follow suit. Last month, Irwin Spilka, Head, Internal Audit and Compliance of the Stonehage Group, outlined a model for risk-based compliance monitoring. In his second article, Mr Spilka explains how to configure the Compliance Department in order to move from ‘assessing compliance with rules’ to a focus on the ‘effectiveness of management systems’ and provides a clear application of the model and risk mapping.

Polarisation, the strict distinction between financial advisers who are independent of product providers and tied agents, is likely to end next year, Howard Davies, FSA chairman, indicated recently. Speaking at the Foreign Banks and Securities..

The Financial Services Authority has agreed that the UK stock exchanges will carry out front-line inquiries into market abuse by their members.The regulator has signed understandings with the London Stock Exchange, Liffe, the International Petroleum..

The pensions review is three quarters complete and some £8 billion has been paid out. Almost a million people have received compensation but there is to be no let-up. John Tiner, Consumer Investment, Insurance Director said, that “firms..

Consultation Paper 97 “The Integrated Prudential Sourcebook” was issued in June this year when the plan was to implement the rules at the start of 2004 alongside the EU legislation resulting from the new Basel Capital Accord. The Basel..

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Timon Molloy • Editor