Investment - Articles - PIMFA welcomes FCA business plan proposals

 Tim Fassam, Director of Government Relations and Policy at PIMFA, commented: “We welcome the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) announcement this morning in its Business Plan that it intends to identify and prevent harm arising in the market faster and more effectively.

 “PIMFA has regularly raised concerns about the FCA’s standard of supervision in the past which, we consider, has contributed to firms failing, consumer detriment and ever rising and unsustainable Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) bills for the vast majority of well-run firms in the market.

 “We set out a number of recommendations in our recent paper on FSCS levy reform and it is encouraging that these have been largely adopted in the FCA’s plans to improve its processes and oversight of firms published today.

 “However, we are clear that this cannot simply involve the provision of new rules and a further expansion of the Handbook. The FCA needs to use the tools already available to them better. To this end, we look forward to the fruits of its data strategy work being implemented to ensure firms are providing data with a purpose rather than just because it is an obligation.

 “We will continue to work closely with the Regulator to ensure that we can all work towards a retail investment market which consumers derive confidence from, and our member firms can thrive in”.