Regulator approves 99.9% of workers since financial crisis

Laura Miller
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The Financial Services Authority (FSA) blocked just 30 out of a possible 227,000 applications from individuals to join the financial sector in the six years since the banking crisis erupted, a rejection rate of just 0.01%.

Renamed the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 1 April, the regulator rejected an average of one appointment for every 7,566 proposed by banking, insurance and other finance firms under the terms of its approved persons regime between April 2007 and the end of 2012, according to figures obtained by Reuters. The FCA does not break out rejections by year, but annual figures do show the number of applications and withdrawals. The latest full year figures show withdrawals came in at just 597 in the year to April 2012, against a peak of 1,850 in the year to April 2009. "In addition to 30...

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