Abbreviations and authorities

Throughout last year I wrote about the plans to rename the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This was expected to happen sometime in 2012; however it was unclear when this would actually take effect.

Whilst reading a Mansion House Speech, (as you do), it appears that this will not take place until 2013…

It is inevitable that the major change with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) coming into effect will happen. However in recent publications the FSA’s Chairman, Adair Turner, announced that ‘the change requires major legislation which deserves careful scrutiny by Parliament. And the parliamentary timescale means that implementation will not be before early 2013’.

One of the considerations we would advise firms about is ordering stationery or brochures that include the regulatory statement ‘Authorised and Regulated by the Financial Services Authority’. Whilst the FSA will be around for a while longer we would recommend you only purchase what you need until the FCA come into power.

As a compliance support firm we are continually monitoring the FSA website for an insight to the changes that will be brought about and any associated timescales. As stated before we have noticed Consultation Papers are already incorporating the new regulators ethos. Where we identify any changes or potential changes in the rules that could affect a firms systems or processes we are updating our customers so that the regulatory changeover will be as seamless as possible for them.

One final point I’d like to make this month (as it’s something that we keep picking up when we visit new customers at Ecompli) is based around abbreviations. The Financial Services Industry is littered with them and a key mistake a lot of firms make when advertising is abbreviating the Financial Services Authority to the FSA. This can be misleading as that also stands for the Food Standards Agency!

To find out more follow Suzanne on Twitter @SuzanneGibson

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