FSA will stay until 2014 despite Tory proposals, says AMI
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The FSA will still be here in 2014 even if the Conservatives win the next election according to the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries director Rob Sinclair.
Speaking at the Mortgage Business Expo at London Olympia yesterday, Sinclair said he didn’t think scrapping the FSA was going to be a priority for a Cameron Government and that it would not happen until a second Parliament.
He also said that he could not envisage the mortgage market review being watered down as a result of the creation of a Consumer Protection Agency.
He said: “I can’t see anything that is in this [the MMR] becoming watered down. The time for change is going to be quite an elongated one.
“I don’t think that abolishing the FSA is in David Cameron’s first 100-day plan when he takes office. I think in terms of regulatory timetable, I doubt I’ll see it until the second parliament and I doubt whether having done that, it would take less than two years to create the new structure.
“Therefore I don’t think I will see anything other than the FSA running regulation until 2013 if not 2014. That means that what we have now is what we have got.”
But he said if anything does change the shape of the MMR, it will be the European Union credit intermediaries study.
He said: “I’m worried about where we are going to be with the EU credit intermediaries study because that will not come until 2011 and we will be in to implementation before Europe actually tells us what they want. So will we have to start and then unravel?
“The only thing that will drive us off the tracks will be if Europe tells them [the FSA] to stop and that is always an option.”
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Readers' comments (4)
Incompetent Regulators Awards | 13 Nov 2009 4:57 pm
God forbid, another 4 years of monkeys regulating the financial industry in the UK? I think I'll go and top myself right now. Hence the Conservatives won't get my vote.
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Anonymous | 13 Nov 2009 5:47 pm
Relax, Mr Sinclair doesn't know any more than the rest of us and his opinion doesn't carry any more weight than anyone else's.
Since reports today suggest that the conservatives are already sounding out Sants to head up the bank element of the new regulator, it seems to me scrapping the FSA and replacing it certainly will be a priority.
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SIMON MANSELL | 13 Nov 2009 6:51 pm
What’s in a name change?
Keep the FSA but scrap the FSMA 2000, which allows the FSA to apply retrospective laws, normally frowned upon, but permitted by virtue of the doctrine of Parliamentary Sovereignty. Make the FSA accountable for their actions in the courts and then let the courts demand accountability when their constant abuses are challenged. There is nothing wrong with the FSA that a 1000 years of common law can't change.
FSA power corrupts. Absolute FSA power corrupts absolutely! Its not just a name change we want!
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Julian Stevens | 16 Nov 2009 12:06 pm
Recalling the Not The Nine O'Clock News sketch, one is tempted to suggest that the best way to bring under control the top people at the FSA will be to "CUT OFF THEIR GOOLIES!"
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