An IFA is taking the FSA to task over the costs of regulation after calculating the percentage of his firm’s hourly rate that goes to the FSA. Sam Caunt, partner at Northampton-based IFA Kingston PTM, says at least £20 of his company’s average £150 per hour rate is due to FSA regulation and to plan […]

The immediate £6 billion cut in public spending proposed by the new Government won key support yesterday when the Governor of the Bank of England overcame his usual reluctance to discuss fiscal policy and gave it his enthusiastic blessing. Mervyn King said the coalition’s deficit reduction plan was strong and powerful and that plans for […]

March 23 was Julian Rifat’s birthday. At 5.30am he should have been in the car that took him every morning from Oxford to the offices in London’s West End where he worked as a trader for Moore Capital, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds. Instead he was trying on a dressing gown given to […]

As part of the regulatory regime for licensed fiduciaries, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission carries out onsite visits to both corporate and individual licensees. This update provides practical advice for licensees on how best to prepare for such a visit. Providing information before visit – Before an onsite visit – the Guernsey Financial Services Commission […]

This (Ogier) memorandum has been prepared for the assistance of its clients in connection with the provisions relevant to compulsory winding up of Companies under the Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (as amended) (the “Companies Law”). It is intended to provide only a summary of the main legal and general principles and it is not intended […]

On 11 May 2010, the FSA published an update on aggregate financial services industry complaints data for the second half of 2009. http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/complaints_2009_h2.pdf It has also published a commentary on the data. http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Library/Other_publications/commentary/index.shtml The overall level of complaints increased to 2.6 million. This figure includes two years’ worth of back-dated complaints relating to the unauthorised […]

ABN Amro was bought by RBS in 2007 The UK’s Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to pay $500m (£336m) to end a money laundering case involving ABN Amro – the lender it bought in 2007. The bank will pay the money to the US government. In exchange, charges against ABN Amro will be dropped. […]

Mercenary sales practices used by bank staff have been uncovered in an internal document leaked by a Barclays sales manager. Customers are viewed as ‘conquests’, with advisers incentivised to sell riskier investments, or more expensive, profitable products, the confidential document leaked to the Daily Mail shows. Persuading a customer to invest their savings in the […]