The FSA held a Wholesale Small Firms’ briefing aimed at Investment Managers and Private Equity firms on 21 September.
The briefing included a session on the Remuneration Code with the FSA acknowledging that the timetable – imposed by EU regulatory changes – is ‘ridiculously short’. It was emphasised that ‘proportionality’ was key here but the FSA wants to hear from industry as to what ‘proportionality’ means. Please see Regulatory Roundup 20 for more on the Remuneration Code and how to make your views known as well as the next article in this Regulatory Roundup.
John King, Manager, Wholesale Firms, advised that the Wholesale Small Firms team is responsible for the supervision of approximately 2,500 firms, being a mixture of hedge fund managers and private equity firms as well as corporate finance and wholesale broking firms. The team expects to visit 200 – 300 firms per annum and a current hot topic for them are unregulated collective investment schemes (‘UCIS’) – please see Regulatory Roundup 19 for further details on the FSA and UCIS.
As for which firms are visited there are various selection criteria including whistle blowing, self notification and GABRIEL alerts. On the latter we are informed that the FSA does get several false alerts due to incorrect returns which, in the words of the FSA, reflect badly on the firms concerned.
The break up of the FSA was covered and it is assumed that investment firms will fall under the new Consumer Protection and Markets Authority (‘CPMA’).
During the transition period the FSA will shadow both the CPMA and the Prudential Regulation Authority and the message was very much that for the FSA it will be business as usual. Regulatory Roundup 16 contained an article on the break up of the FSA.
The FSA held a Wholesale Small Firms’ briefing aimed at Investment Managers and Private Equity firms on 21 September.
The briefing included a session on the Remuneration Code with the FSA acknowledging that the timetable – imposed by EU regulatory changes – is ‘ridiculously short’. It was emphasised that ‘proportionality’ was key here but the FSA wants to hear from industry as to what ‘proportionality’ means. Please see Regulatory Roundup 20 for more on the Remuneration Code and how to make your views known as well as the next article in this Regulatory Roundup.
John King, Manager, Wholesale Firms, advised that the Wholesale Small Firms team is responsible for the supervision of approximately 2,500 firms, being a mixture of hedge fund managers and private equity firms as well as corporate finance and wholesale broking firms. The team expects to visit 200 – 300 firms per annum and a current hot topic for them are unregulated collective investment schemes (‘UCIS’) – please see Regulatory Roundup 19 for further details on the FSA and UCIS. As for which firms are visited there are various selection criteria including whistle blowing, self notification and GABRIEL alerts.
On the latter we are informed that the FSA does get several false alerts due to incorrect returns which, in the words of the FSA, reflect badly on the firms concerned. The break up of the FSA was covered and it is assumed that investment firms will fall under the new Consumer Protection and Markets Authority (‘CPMA’).
During the transition period the FSA will shadow both the CPMA and the Prudential Regulation Authority and the message was very much that for the FSA it will be business as usual. Regulatory Roundup 16 contained an article on the break up of the FSA.
