FSA responds to criticism over fraud work
Anti-money laundering focus will not be abandoned says regulator
The FSA will not abandon its anti-money laundering work in favour of fraud, a
senior manager said today.
Edna Young, financial crime sector manager, was responding to claims from
senior figures in business that the FSA’s new focus on fraud would be at the
expense of its other work on market abuse and money laundering.
‘I find it depressing to hear that is how some senior management are
interpreting our increased interest in fraud,’ she said.
Young said the FSA was carrying out some ‘thematic work’ on anti-fraud
governance to assess the real risks to business and decide what the regulator’s
future role should be.
In the meantime the FSA said its supervisors will be looking at a number of
indicators in firms to ensure they have the systems and controls in place to
reduce the risk of fraud.
‘We will focus our attention on senior management responsibility for managing
fraud risk and the importance of a lead from the top.’
According to law firm Simmons and Simmons, the FSA has also had a slower year
on the enforcement front. According to its calculations it has censured just 19
companies in the first six months of this year, compared with 81 for the whole
of 2004.