Regulation

An adviser has complained to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) following an hour-long phone conversation about Retail Mediation Activities Return (RMAR) reporting that led to an agreement over accounting rules that was not "entirely logical".

Europe's insurers spent as much as €9bn keeping pace with a barrage of regulatory changes imposed on the industry in the years following the financial crisis, according to a report by Deloitte.

REGULATION

The National Audit Office (NAO) has launched an investigation into the new financial services regulatory structure that came into effect this year.

Sustainable and well regulated growth in financial services could generate an additional 265,000 jobs and boost GDP by between 2% and 3% by 2020, a report from PwC has found.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive Martin Wheatley has said he "can't commit" to lowering advisers' regulatory fees, despite a marked drop in practitioner numbers.

APPROVED PERSONS

A fifth of IFAs expect to see a "significant" increase in the number and size of fines inflicted on the financial services sector over the next five years, according to research.

The Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) has warned the regulator that consumers will be disadvantaged if the trend of shrinking adviser numbers is not reversed.

Legal & General has become the latest provider to report a marked increase in the number of transfer requests to suspected pension liberation schemes.