BDO calls on FSA to roll out liquidity rules

BDO Stoy Hayward has urged the Financial Services Authority to clarify when it will introduce new liquidity rules for banks and investment firms.

The request from the top 10 firm comes amid speculation that the City watchdog is considering delaying the target date for the introduction of the new rules.

The rules – intended to ensure that financial and investment firms have enough assets to make future payments – were a key recommendation in the Turner report earlier this month.

The FSA said, when it published plans for new rules in December, that it hoped to implement them in October this year.

Now, however the regulator is considering pushing that date back to within the first quarter of 2010, according to a report by the Dow Jones newswire.

Fiona Raistrick, BDO’s head of the financial services regulatory practice, said: ‘In the current market, it is essential that firms know where they stand.’

An FSA spokeswoman said new liquidity rules will be phased in from the fourth quarter of this year into 2010, in line with its original plan.