FSA

Regulatory Changes at Record Levels

February 14, 2012

Regulators around the world issued an average of 60 new or amended rules per day last year, according to a study from Thomson Reuters, and 2012 is likely to bring still more thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act and similar laws. "For end users, there's a scary amount of work ahead," says Alex Robson, chief editor of the report. A round-the-world tour of compliance officers' headaches is inside.
 

British Regulator Issues Record Corruption Fine

July 22, 2011

Britain's Financial Services Authority has slapped a record £7 million ($11.4 million) fine on one of the country's biggest insurance brokers for failing to have good internal controls to prevent corruption. The regulator said Willis Limited had not done enough to monitor payments to third parties that helped the broker win contracts in Russia and Egypt.
 

FSA Hitting Firms With Smaller Fines, On Average

July 16, 2011

The UK Financial Services Authority has hardened its enforcement strategy over the last two years, but when a few record cases are set aside the average fine imposed by the regulator against firms has actually fallen, according to a new analysis.
 

London Improves Insider Dealing Record

June 14, 2011

Insider trading is on the decline in Britain, according to data released by market regulator Financial Services Authority. The level of suspicious share price movements ahead of takeover announcements last year—21 percent—was the lowest since 2003, and dropped from 31 percent in 2009.
 

U.K. Reconsiders White Collar Crime Shakeup

November 25, 2010

The British government is scrapping a controversial plan to put its new Economic Crime Agency in charge of securities fraud. The move was part of a proposal to abolish the Financial Services Authority and the Serious Fraud Office and transfer their workload to two new agencies. The government is still working on plans to overhaul its network of financial regulatory and enforcement agencies.
 

FSA Wants Mobile Calls Recorded

November 15, 2010

Financial firms operating in the United Kingdom will have to start recording staff mobile phone calls under new regulations from the industry regulator. The move is an effort to limit insider trading.The Financial Services Authority made an exemption for cell calls when it told firms to record phone conversations in...
 

Reprieved Director Was Careless, Not Dishonest

November 04, 2010

A British company director has won an appeal against a Financial Services Authority ruling that he was unfit for his job after a tribunal decided he was guilty only of “carelessness”.The tribunal ruled that Mandeep Panesar, a director of advisory firm Burlington Associates, had made mistakes when he completed an...
 

Compliance Silence Costs Goldman Sachs £17.5m ($27m)

September 10, 2010

The U.K. Financial Services Authority has fined the London arm of investment bank Goldman Sachs £17.5 million ($27 million) for a breach of its rules. The penalty stems from a lack of communication between the firm’s U.S. operations and its London compliance department.The regulator penalized Goldman Sachs International (GSI) because...
 

U.K. Plans Corporate Super-Regulator

July 30, 2010

The U.K. government is planning to create a new super-regulator to set and enforce financial reporting rules, corporate governance standards, and securities regulations for listed companies.This work is currently shared between the Financial Reporting Council and the Financial Services Authority. But the government has already announced a commitment to scrap...
 

U.K. Regulators Tell Bank Auditors to Be More Skeptical

June 29, 2010

Britain’s financial and corporate governance regulators have told external audit firms to be more skeptical, claiming they let down investors, regulators, and “society at large” by failing to challenge management in the run-up to the financial crisis.A joint paper from the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Reporting Council also...
 

U.K. Creates Enforcement Super-Agency, Killing SFO

May 21, 2010

The U.K.’s newly elected coalition government has said it will create a new enforcement agency to tackle serious white-collar crime, stripping other regulators of their powers in this area and abolishing the troubled Serious Fraud Office.The move was unveiled in a document released this week that sets out the government’s...
 

FSA Fines Send Loud and Clear Message

April 13, 2010

U.K. regulator the Financial Services Authority showed its determination to hold individual executives accountable for corporate wrongdoing this week when it fined and banned two former employees of the failed bank Northern Rock.The FSA said that David Baker, former deputy chief executive of Northern Rock, failed to escalate information inside...
 

FSA Launches Biggest Ever Insider Dealing Operation

March 26, 2010

The U.K Financial Services Authority’s determination to get tough on insider dealing continues. Last week it sought to extradite a suspect for the first time, now it has raided addresses and made arrests in what it says is its biggest ever operation against insider dealing.In its first joint operation with...
 

Tougher FSA Uses Extradition Powers

March 16, 2010

Further evidence came this week that the U.K. Financial Services Authority is taking a tougher stance on enforcement. Charging two suspects in an insider dealing case, the regulator for the first time sought the extradition of a suspect from abroad.The FSA used a European Arrest Warrant issued by a London...
 

Appeal Win Lets FSA Grab Evidence for SEC

March 05, 2010

Britain's Financial Services Authority says it is committed to helping the Securities and Exchange Commission with overseas investigations, after winning an appellate court battle that aimed to block its efforts to obtain confidential evidence for its U.S. friends.Lawyers said the victory gives new support to the SEC’s ability to obtain...
 

FSA Pushes Through Unpopular Fines Crackdown

March 05, 2010

Britain's Financial Services Authority has decided to push ahead with a controversial new policy on compliance penalties, despite concerns that it is too harsh and will damage the FSA's relationships with regulated firms.The new framework, which takes immediate effect, could lead to the fines imposed by the FSA tripling in...
 

Regulator Pledges Intrusive Stance on Governance

January 29, 2010

The U.K. Financial Services Authority has admitted that it didn’t pay enough attention to the quality of corporate governance at financial firms prior to the credit crisis. The regulator said it had always put a lot of emphasis on good governance but added, “we recognize that our focus on the...
 

Government Seeks New Powers for FSA

November 23, 2009

Britain's Financial Services Authority will be able to take tougher action against firms and individuals that fail to comply with its rules if draft legislation proposed by the government makes in onto the statute books. The centerpiece of the new Financial Services Bill was a measure that would give the FSA...
 

FSA to Appeal Block on SEC Help

November 02, 2009

0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} The U.K Financial Services Authority is to appeal a court ruling that blocked its efforts to obtain confidential evidence for the Securities and Exchange Commission. In August,...
 

Regulator Gets Tougher on Fit and Proper Test

October 14, 2009

U.K. regulator the Financial Services Authority will be getting far more involved in the recruitment decisions made by the firms it regulates, according to a letter it has sent to the CEOs of some 5,000 companies.Firms that want to appoint someone to a “significant influence function” already have to seek...
 

Serious Control Weaknesses Land Barclays $4.09m Fine

September 11, 2009

0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} U.K. regulator the Financial Services Authority has fined Barclays, the banking group, $4.09 million for a series of internal control and compliance breaches and warned...
 

FSA Clears Way for Greater Investor Scrutiny

August 19, 2009

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority has published guidance aimed at making it easier for shareholders to push companies to raise their governance standards.Institutional shareholders have been accused of not challenging companies about their corporate governance practices in the run up to the financial crisis. But they in turn have...
 

Regulator Fires Bonus Warning

August 04, 2009

The Financial Services Authority has fired a warning shot at banks thinking of paying their executives guaranteed bonuses that run for more than a year.In a letter sent to more than 40 chief executives in the financial services sector, the head of the U.K. regulator, Hector Sants, cautioned that the...
 

U.K. Extends 'Fit and Proper' Test to U.S. Staff

July 27, 2009

Employees of U.S. financial firms that do business in London could have to ask the U.K.'s regulator to approve their suitability for the job under a new scheme.The Financial Services Authority already has a strict program of approving key personnel at the country’s financial firms. But it has now extended...
 

FSA Told to Report On Pay Code Compliance

July 10, 2009

The U.K. government has moved to add some extra kick to the Financial Services Authority’s efforts to stop banks and other financial firms using pay and bonus deals that encourage excessive risk taking.Last year the FSA published a draft code of conduct on remuneration that said firms must “establish, implement,...
 

FSA Plans to Treble Fines

July 09, 2009

Financial firms that fall foul of the U.K’s lead regulator face a three-fold increase in fines under its plan to get tougher with wrongdoers.The Financial Services Authority (FSA), which said recently it wanted firms to be more frightened by its enforcement powers, said its proposed new penalty regime reflected its...
 

Regulator Convicts an Insider Dealer, at Last

March 31, 2009

The U.K. Financial Services Authority has finally won its first convictions for insider dealing, nine years after the government gave it the powers to prosecute such cases.A jury found that Christopher McQuoid, the general counsel of a listed technology company, had tipped off James Melbourne, his father-in-law, about a looming...
 

U.K. Reviews Governance Code for ‘Comply or Explain’

March 18, 2009

The U.K’s lead corporate regulator has launched a review of its Combined Code on Corporate Governance, which sets out the governance principles that listed companies are expected to follow.One specific question the Financial Reporting Council will look at is whether the “comply or explain” approach, the cornerstone of the Code,...
 

Regulator Scraps Principles; Says “Be Frightened”

March 16, 2009

The head of the U.K. Financial Services Authority has signaled the end of its principles-based philosophy of regulation and told companies they should be “frightened” of the tough approach it plans to take in future.In his second important speech in a matter of days, FSA Chief Executive Hector Sants conceded...
 

U.K. Regulator to Investors: Ask Tougher Governance Qs

March 11, 2009

Institutional investors must do more to hold companies to account and question them about their corporate governance practices, according to the chief executive of the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority, Hector Sants.Speaking at the U.K National Association of Pension Funds’ investment conference, Sants said shareholders must take responsibility—acting on their own...