Practitioner panel launches survey of financial services firms
The Financial Services Practitioner Panel is about to launch the first stage of its 2006 survey of regulated firms to obtain an authoritative industry assessment of the performance of the Financial Services Authority (FSA). This survey, which is carried out every two years, is aimed at gathering industry views on the FSA and establishing a track record of the regulator's performance.
Previous surveys have achieved a high response rate, providing robust feedback from the financial services industry. The Panel is particularly pleased to note that in the past the survey's results have been taken on board in a positive manner by the FSA and have had a considerable impact on front-line FSA policy decision making and its regulatory operation generally. A number of the major issues that emerged from the 2004 survey – the ever increasing cost of regulation, the treatment of smaller firms and the sheer volume of consultation papers - are now prioritised more appropriately on the regulatory agenda and progress is being made in these and other areas. In particular, the FSA – in partnership with the Panel – is part way through a ground-breaking study to quantify regulatory costs and identify areas where those costs might not be justified by the benefits they aim to secure.
As before, the survey, to be conducted by GFK NOP, will be divided into qualitative and quantitative stages. The qualitative phase, involving a series of interviews with senior FSA staff and with a representative sample of senior staff from a cross-section of regulated firms, will commence shortly. This will provide useful feedback and context in itself, but will also be used to help identify issues for inclusion in the quantitative questionnaire that will be sent to firms - of all sizes and types - in the summer.
While the intention is to include M&GI firms in the study, this will be done in such a way as to reflect their "newness" to FSA regulation and to facilitate like-for-like tracking and analysis of the pre-existing population.
The Panel plans to publish the final report findings later in 2006. It will then use the information to inform subsequent discussions with the FSA.
Roy Leighton, Chairman of the Panel, said:
"The period since the last survey in 2004 has been challenging for the industry and also one of transition. This survey will be something of an acid test, and will give the regulated community a timely and valuable opportunity to say whether the shape and nature of FSA regulation is – or is not - moving in the right direction. In particular, it will measure the success of the FSA's major restructuring exercise, and establish whether the regulator is now seen as a more efficient and effective organisation. The FSA is publicly committed to Better Regulation and to making itself 'easier to do business with' - this research will invite practitioners to say whether these commitments to change are indeed being delivered."
"I would strongly urge firms to take part in this important piece of work."
Notes for editors
- The Practitioner Panel was established in November 1998, comprising senior figures from a crosssection of the financial services industry, to provide a highlevel body available for consultation on policy by the FSA and able to communicate to the FSA views and concerns of the regulated industries. It has a statutory basis under Section 9 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
- The current members of the Panel are: Roy Leighton, Chairman, Nymex Europe
Limited (Chairman); Jonathan Bloomer, former Chief Executive, Prudential (Deputy
Chairman); Alan Ainsworth, Deputy Chairman, Threadneedle Asset Management;
Luqman Arnold, former Chief Executive, Abbey National; Matthew Bullock, Group
Chief Executive, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society; Russell Collins, Head
of Deloitte UK National Financial Services Practice; Clara Furse, Chief Executive,
London Stock Exchange; Douglas Gardner, former Chief Executive, AWD; Ruthven
Gemmell, Partner, Murray Beith Murray (Chairman of the Smaller Businesses
Practitioner Panel); David Hardy, Chief Executive, LCH Clearnet Group; Colin
Keogh, Group Chief Executive, Close Brothers Group; Gordon Pell, Executive
Chairman, Retail Markets, Royal Bank of Scotland Group; Nick Prettejohn, Chief Executive, UK Insurance, Prudential; Andrew Ross, Chief Executive, Cazenove Fund Management; Patrick Snowball, Group Executive Director, Aviva UK; Alan Yarrow, Vice Chairman, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. - Further information on the role and work of the Panel, including copies of its annual reports and biennial surveys of regulated firms, are available on its website: www.fspp.org.uk
Press enquiries:
Chris Cherlin
020 7066 9534
Sunil Modak
020 7066 2204
