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Consultation Paper on Future Strategy - full version for Members only
The Steering Council has been reviewing the role of the APCC within the financial services industry in the light of changes within the market place – in particular the new approach by the FSA contained within the retail distribution review on the need to increase the professionalism of retail firms and the explicit statement of how compliance consultants can assist the FSA in meeting its statutory objectives.
We believe there is an opportunity now for the APCC to act as the catalyst within the compliance industry to provide independent assurance of robust competency standards for consultancy firms. These competency standards will enable both the FSA and regulated firms to place reliance on these firms who achieve these standards. This will enhance the reputation of the APCC and its members within the industry as a whole which will naturally increase the commercial advantage of all APCC members.
These proposals will require additional resources for the APCC which would come from a separate membership application fee and higher membership fees. Our current estimate is that for those firms wanting to achieve the competency assurance standards then the annual fees would increase by between 50% for the larger consultancy firms and 100% for the smaller consultancy firms. The membership application fee for those firms applying for the competency assurance standards are likely to be between £500 and £1,000. All fees for member firms are likely to increase to some extent if the proposals in the attached consultation paper are implemented. We need to know from you what you want the APCC to achieve and what are the most appropriate fee levels.
We have prepared a consultation paper on how we believe these competency assurance standards can be achieved which we would encourage all members to read and send in their views on this proposed strategy. We will be holding a series of regional workshops in November and we are planning more in December to discuss these proposals with you – please come to these and make your views known and raise any issues which you believe should be taken into account. We plan to complete the consultation process by the end of December and then issue a further document in early first quarter of 2008 for member firms to vote on the proposals contained in it as part of the annual general meeting of the Association in late first quarter 2008.
We look forward to hearing from all of you on this important development for the Association.
Other
London Fraud Forum Conference on 4 October 2007
The aim of the London Fraud Forum aim is to bring together businesses and organisations from both the public and private sectors to combine forces to tackle the fraud threat head on, by actively sharing knowledge, ideas and experiences.
Their inaugural conference is on 4 October 2007, click here for a flyer.
Please note that the London Fraud Forum is not connected to the APCC and the above is not intended to an endorsement by the APCC but is provided as useful information to viewers of the website.
