A deal of talk

Timon Molloy, Editor

The FSA likes to talk a tough line on Enforcement and if the Business Plan 2009/10 is to be believed, it will be mighty busy over the next 12 months beating up not just on firms but individuals:“…we expect to see more cases where individuals, especially those holding significant influence functions, are subject to enforcement action.” The industry has heard it all before of course and is still waiting for a ‘name’ to go down rather than the usual hapless nonentities. Complex insider dealing prosecutions aside, there remains the question of why, as promised at the last FSA Enforcement conference, the regulator hasn’t already gone after more senior management for APER code breaches. In almost every Final Notice there is evidence of major failings at top level and yet very few of these individuals, one or two-man band mortgage brokers excepted, are ever punished. It may be that some are quietly ‘let go’ off stage but to send out a message – one of the proclaimed goals of Enforcement – justice must not only be done but be seen to be done.