For the uninitiated, N2 represents the moment that the Financial Services Authority, the new regulatory monolith, will wield the full force of its powers at midnight on 30 November 2001. Ever curious, TS recently asked the watchdog where it had come up with such a mystifying acronym, and was informed that predecessor N1 forged the way for N2, originally meaning ‘new regulator 1 and 2’ – whatever that means. But, added the spokeswoman, the name has now been dropped because it caused so much confusion, both inside and outside the FSA.
TS looks forward, albeit somewhat sceptically, to a new era of clarity from our great new regulator.