Regulation

INCOMING

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has declared a further 14 advisory businesses in default.

The Financial Services Authority handed out fines totalling more than £400m in the last year before it was overhauled, a huge jump from previous years amid mammoth fines for banks over LIBOR failings.

The head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed details of its thematic review into the £902bn unit-linked funds sector -and said the regulator is also looking into the annuity market.

Regulatory reform costs of the former regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) more than doubled in the last year of its operation and could in future be levied on firms, the FSA annual report has revealed today.

Staff costs at the regulator were £15.4m higher than budgeted for following its decision to make a one-off contribution of £22m to reduce its defined benefit pension scheme deficit.

There has been a significant increase in consumers looking for advisers, despite the changed regulatory landscape following the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), according adviser website Unbiased.

Law firm Regulatory Legal has set up an alternative business structure with a wealth manager to package up legal advice for financial advisers to provide to their clients.

Seven months after the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), one adviser said he charges 70% more than he did under the old commission system as a result of the rule change.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is going in the right direction to becoming a "genuinely different" regulator and will put greater emphasis on competition, its chief executive Martin Wheatley has said.