Spotlight on the FSA

Seminars
Seminars for Compliance Consultants/Officers, January - March 2010, Edinburgh, London and Manchester
Sessions available are: What does a good firm look like; and General investments. Further information and booking details are available here.

Briefings
ARROW® II breakfast briefings - ask the regulator, February - May 2010, London Limited to a maximum of 10 participants, this is your chance to ask the ARROW team straight questions and get straight answers on any aspect of ARROW® II. Further information and booking details are available here.

CONFERENCES
Insurance sector conference, 18 March 2010, London EC1
This full day conference is an opportunity for the FSA to set out its regulatory priorities for the sector and answer the industry's questions. The conference offers delegates the opportunity to hear from the senior management team at the FSA as well as from senior industry practitioners and wider market commentators. Confirmed FSA speakers/panellists include: Jon Pain, on intensive supervision; Sally Dewar, on Solvency II; and Dan Waters, on conduct risk. Further information and booking details are available here.

Enforcement conference, 22 June 2010, London EC1
A one-day conference exploring the effect of FSA enforcement and how it changes the behaviour of the firms and individuals regulated by the FSA. This conference will evaluate progress against the FSA's credible deterrence objective and examine the role of enforcement in ensuring regulatory compliance. It will include panel discussions and debate around how enforcement action affects the way firms do business, the merits and effectiveness of sanctions in retail and wholesale markets and the priorities for the FSA's Enforcement division in 2010 and beyond. Confirmed speakers include: Hector Sants (Chief Executive, FSA) and Margaret Cole (Director of Enforcement and Financial Crime Division, FSA). Further information and booking details are available here.

WORKSHOPS
Liquidity reporting workshops, January - March 2010, various locations
The FSA recently published new rules on liquidity which put further requirements on firms - including providing the FSA with additional data relating to a firm's liquidity risk. The FSA is offering a series of half-day workshops for basic products and advanced products to help you identify the relevant data items, frequency and submission deadlines that apply to different categories of firms at solo, group and whole firm levels. They will also provide you with the opportunity to learn more about the new data items with particular emphasis on worked examples of how to report typical product types. Further information and booking details are available here.

Risk Management Symposium
Sunday 11 - Tuesday 13 July 2010, St John's College Cambridge
Residential event led by Lyndon Nelson, Director - Risk Management, Financial Services Authority.  The event begins on Sunday 11 July with a formal dinner and keynote address from Sally Dewar, Managing Director, Risk Business Unit. It is intended to bring together risk specialists, regulators and industry practitioners to discuss current issues in risk management - such as valuation, stress-testing and governance. To register interest contact kathy.mccall@fsa.gov.uk

For full details of all FSA events please visit: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Doing/Events/index.shtml

The stated cause of these delays has been the more intrusive approach of the FSA to processing applications.  Anecdotal evidence is that this has been exacerbated by a reduction in staff numbers (possibly caused by secondment of staff to other activities), the movement out of the department of specialised case officers and general loss of morale.  

The FSA has refused to publicise these processing delays on its website however Sharon Campbell who was recently appointed head of the permissions department wrote to the APCC in November confirming these delays and stating that they were expected to be temporary.  The APCC responded to this in December asking for more information which we are expecting in early 2010.

As soon as we have further information we will update this news item.  In the meantime the FSA is still stating that "Generally speaking, a straightforward application takes between two and three months".  If  you have any information/examples of delays on this then please do contact us at admin@apcc.org.uk. 

The FSA has announced a program of training which is open to all consultants. The program is primarily focussed on retail issues however some of the training seminars will be applicable across all firms. More details of the program can be found at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/events/compliance.shtml. The APCC is offering a one-off £50 refund to each member firm that books one or more consultants on these seminars in the year to 30 June 2010. To claim this refund please fax a copy of the FSA seminar confirmation to the APCC.