Ninety five per cent of senior financial services business leaders in London believe that the UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), will have to become more responsive to their questions in a principles based regulatory environment, according to an interactive voting session at a recent Securities & Investment Institute (SII) conference. But, when asked if the FSA was doing a good job, an amazing 59% thought it was, and another 32% gave it the benefit of the doubt by saying “maybe.” Wirse still, nearly one in five thought compliance officers should be driving preparations for MiFID. When asked “Who do you think should drive the change to prepare for MiFID?,” 55% of respondents said “the business”, while 18% said “compliance/legal”.
The conference on the theme of “Optimising UK Competitiveness within Global Financial Markets”, drew speakers including John Tiner, CEO of the FSA and Robert R. Glauber, Chairman & Chief Executive of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Over 160 SII members attended.
Eighty seven percent of respondents thought that risks to the economy are increasing, In terms of where the UK will be on a globally competitive basis in 10 years time, 41% thought the UK would be more competitive while 38% thought less competitive.
On the theme of business threats, 38% of respondents felt European regulation was the biggest threat to the UK financial services industry while 20% cited competition as the biggest threat.
The issues of ethics and integrity were discussed and 47% of respondents thought business and personal conduct in the City was more honest today than it was 20 years ago, while 29% thought it was the same and 24% thought it was less honest.