On the right path

At the end of October last year the Financial Services Authority (FSA) set out a new method of operation for financial services firms. Its proposals, in part driven by the need to adopt the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), will see a radical simplification of the rules and a shift towards principles-based regulation. Rather than provide a set of detailed, prescriptive rules that must be followed religiously, the new regulatory regime will allow firms to determine the way they run their business in line with a set of overarching principles. This approach has already be...