Enforcement threat looms from FSA
Firms under threat if they fail to meet deadline for treating customers fairly (TCF) campaign
Accounting firms along with other regulated businesses that fail to meet the
31 March deadline for implementing the requirements under the
Financial
Services Authority’s treating customers fairly (TCF) regime will
face the threat of an enforcement action.
Sarah
Wilson, director of the FSA’s retail firms division, said the regulator had
clearly signalled the importance it attached to the TCF principle and given
firms plenty of notice regarding the need to begin its implementation by the end
of the month.
Speaking at a TCF seminar in London, Wilson said: ‘Given the enforcement
criteria I have already mentioned, it will also in our view be right that we
consider the case for a referral to enforcement in all such cases.’
She added: ‘It is important to stress that, if we proceed with a referral, it
will be on the basis of alleged actual or potential consumer detriment – not
failure to meet the deadline per se.’
An FSA survey last year showed 80% of large regulated firms and 51% of
medium-sized firms considered themselves to be in the process of implementing
TCF. The regulator plans to survey 700 smaller firms to see if the IFA sector is
taking TCF seriously.
Further reading:
Small company FDs under FSA radar
FSA warned private equity listings will hurt consumers