Is self-regulation dead and buried?

Compliance Monitor never seems to be short of material from the arena of FSA regulation, writes Adrian Lloyd, Compliance Director, Banking Code Standards Board. The addition of mortgages to the FSA’s brief in October last year and general insurance at the time of writing in January 2005 have set major new challenges for the compliance community and their business colleagues. They have also left so little outside the statutory domain that some may think the death knell of voluntary regulation has sounded…

Adrian Lloyd, Compliance Director, Banking Code Standards Board may be contacted on tel: +44 (0) 20 7397 8256; email: adrianlloyd@bcsb.org.uk

This article aims to redress the balance and show that self-regulation in financial services is still very much alive and thriving, in the form of the Banking Code and the Business Banking Code. All the main retail banks in the UK, the major credit card issuers and almost all the building societies are registered as subscribers to the Banking Code. They also subscribe where appropriate to the Business Banking Code, which covers small businesses with an annual turnover of up to £1 million, in line with the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). National Savings & Investments is a subscriber to the Banking Code.