Financial Services Authority (FSA)
The FSA has been regulating the UK insurance intermediary market since 2005 and while this may suggest that some of the immediacy has disappeared from the role of regulatory compliance, the fact is that the regulator is only just starting to warm up.
The FSA has specifically stated that it intends to visit all London Market wholesale firms and presently continues to brings its focus to bear on various different aspects of industry practice, with much emphasis currently on issues such as ‘Treating customers fairly', which is a central facet of the FSA's ‘principles based regulation'.
LMG, in conjunction with its compliance partners, puts in place the correct procedures and controls which might currently be missing with regard to FSA legislation. These processes ensure that the proper mechanisms exist to be able to provide evidence to the FSA of compliance.
LMG is especially involved in assisting intermediaries with the completion and submission of the RMAR. The FSA has recently completed a project reviewing the accuracy of the information provided by 200 small firms in their RMAR's. The results of the project have revealed that:
- half the firms reviewed could not prove the accuracy of the information submitted
- often, responsibility for the completion of the RMAR was delegated to staff who were not competent or sufficiently experienced to complete it
- some firms were not using the correct set of accounts (often using out-of-date accounts) when completing the returns
- several firms gave potentially misleading information to the FSA
As one of its most important regulatory tools, the FSA places great importance on the quality and integrity of the information provided on the RMAR and treats failure to provide this very seriously indeed, placing firms on ‘Watchlists' and including referring firms concerned for enforcement action.
If your organisation has any concerns regarding its FSA compliance, contact LMG so we identify and correct any issues with your current procedures.