i-law.com - Newsletter (Compliance Monitor)

Viewpoint: jumping frogs

Gary Dixon is managing director of Resources Compliance. He may be contacted on tel: 0116 271 9750; email: gary.dixon@resources-uk.com

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Richard Burger is a senior solicitor in the Regulatory Team at Mills & Reeve LLP. Formerly with FSA enforcement he was the case lawyer in the FSA’s first published case of market abuse. Richard can be contacted at: tel +44 (0) 1223 222 567 and email: richard.burger@mills-reeve.com

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Giving advice under the COBS/MiFID regime and principles-based regulation

With MiFID barely a couple of months old, we thought that we would benefit from a tour of the Directives and COBS rules on advising customers. Adam Samuel takes us on an excursion that perhaps lacks a little magic and mystery about it but is no less necessary for all that.

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Capital adequacy – it’s not just numbers

For information about Securities & Investment Institute events, visit www.sii.org.uk. Reporting by Timon Molloy.

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Financial Promotions after MiFID: the new Conduct of Business rules

Among all the MiFID-related revisions FSA has made to COBS are some changes to the rules on financial promotions. Some, but not all, are MiFID-driven. Some, but again not all, have a significant impact on how authorised firms manage promotional campaigns. Emma Radmore and Dominic Gilmore of Denton Wilde Sapte look at the changes and how they affect firms promoting specific investments.

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Unauthorised overdraft complaints waiver remains in place

The waiver on application of complaints handling rules when consumers allege unfair unauthorised overdraft handling charges, introduced on 27 July, is working well according to the FSA and will continue to operate across the UK until resolution of a..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Appointed Representatives are TCF weakpoint

Four firms may be referred to Enforcement and another 11 face follow-up visits after the FSA found flaws in their oversight of appointed representatives. The recent review looked at 35 smaller intermediary Principals and 67 of their ARs, from the..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Penny shares risk control failures cost stockbroker £49,000

Wills & Co, a stockbroking firm, has been fined £49,000 for failing to communicate effectively the risk of investing in penny shares and for advice that was not clear, fair and not misleading. The FSA Final Notice records breaches of..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

QIS3 problems point to refinement in insurance capital modelling

Over 80% of UK insurance firms had capital in excess of the standard Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR) in the third Quantitative Impact Study (QIS3), which tested proposals for the Solvency II regime following publication of draft framework..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Significant Contracts for Difference positions face disclosure

The potential for Contracts for Difference (CfDs) to enable holders to access voting rights in equity of a company or influence its corporate governance without disclosure has prompted the FSA to propose two approaches aimed at achieving greater..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Financial Services Compensation Scheme new funding model from next April

The FSA has confirmed new funding arrangements that would enable the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to meet claims up to a total £4.03 billion a year. The model, which will operate from 1 April 2008, comprises five classes..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Fines and a ban for subprime brokers

Three mortgage brokers, specialising in the sub-prime sector, have been punished by the FSA for sales and advice failings; they shared many of the same deficiencies. The Loan Company, trading as Greenhill Finance (TLC), had not corrected record..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

FSA takes tough line with recalcitrant mortgage brokers

Seven firms are in Enforcement and an unspecified further number face referral after FSA reviews of small mortgage intermediaries in June to September 2007 found examples of “negligence or wilful non-compliance”. Stephen Bland. FSA..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Quarter of financial firms’ websites are not fair, clear and not misleading

In 130 visits to 77 firms’ websites over the last 12 months, the FSA discovered that a quarter were hard to navigate and failed to highlight key information in breach of financial promotions standards. Examples of bad practice include..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Toronto Dominion Bank (London Branch) fined £490,000 over trader’s hidden losses

Simon Richard Brignall, former fixed income trader at the London branch of Toronto Dominion Bank (TD), dropped a bombshell when he resigned on 9 March 2007. He told the bank that he had hidden losses in his book for nearly two years: from June 2005..

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007

Self-assessment

For further information on Joslin Rowe’s compliance services, please visit www.joslinrowe.com/compliance

Online Published Date: 01 December 2007

Appeared in issue: Vol 20 No 4 - 01 December 2007