Not dancing yet: One adviser's caution over FCA long-stop promise

During 1999/2000, Parliament debated the Financial Services & Markets Bill at length and few stones were left unturned. Ultimately it came into effect in December 2001. Much debate centred on the powers of the incipient Financial Ombudsman Service, and then Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Melanie Johnson, promised checks and balances. Once FSMA2000 came into force, the industry quickly discovered that the FOS denied the existence of the 15-year long-stop defence. This was not because the rules specifically forbade it, but because the rules did not specifically include it! Consi...