Unprecedented scrutiny of UK asset managers set for 2013

03 Jan 2013

The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) will increase its supervision of the asset management industry considerably in 2013. UK asset managers can look forward to more “Dear CEO” letters and many more requests for Section 166 skilled person reports.

Intensive scrutiny of asset managers is expected to expose flaws in the industry’s approach to regulatory compliance and could lead to underperforming compliance officers being replaced.

In addition, the FSA will increasingly hold asset management chief executives personally responsible for compliance failings. “The FSA has returned to asset management.

The FSA has been away and hasn’t focused on asset management in the same way it had when [the Investment Management Regulatory Organisation] existed. Now asset managers’ compliance teams are less honed in terms of regulatory expectations. When the regulator starts looking again it will find that things aren’t as tight as they should be