FSA “Finalises” Key Components of the Regulatory Regime to apply to Individuals.

Legal Status of ‘Final Text’ Handbook Requirements

Joanna Gray, Solicitor and Senior Lecturer in Law University of Dundee. joanna@alwinton.fsnet.co.uk

During February the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has issued a large volume of material which comprises regulatory rules, guidance and codes which will form part of its Handbook. Most of these regulatory requirements are described by FSA as being ‘final text’. So why the inverted commas? At the moment the FSA has no formal legal power to do so and the rules themselves will lack legal force until the whole of the Handbook comes into force and that can only be when the FSA derives formal legal existence and takes up its new regulatory powers when the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) is implemented. That date, widely referred to by industry, Government and regulator alike as ‘N2’ has yet to be definitively announced but is expected to be later this year.