John Tiner, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Authority (FSA)- who officially launched the Scottish Office of the Securities & Investment Institute at a reception held in Edinburgh on Monday 11 October – says his preferred approach was to regulate only as a last resort. Tiner claimed that by the end of the year he will have reduced the number of consultation papers issued by the FSA.
Tiner also suggested that the current money laundering regulations need to be reviewed and had led to some firms operating over zealous policies which had lost sight of the underlying principles. Tiner assured his audience that, in future, European Directives would be implemented as they were written and would not be “gold-plated”. These remarks were warmly applauded by the audience of 150 members and guests.
Simon Culhane, CEO Securities & Investment Institute says his message about reviewing the existing money laundering regulations “went down extremely well.”
Carlye Campbell, who will run the Scottish Office commented: “Many of our members were particularly pleased to hear that future European Directives will be implement as they are written as opposed to being gold-plated. This will put the UK on a level playing field with other European countries.”