FCA restructure must be probed - Treasury Committee chairman
Plans for a major restructure of the FCA will need to undergo close scrutiny before it can be judged whether they address serious concerns, the Treasury Committee's chairman says.
The FCA announced an overhaul of its various divisions yesterday, with a number of key senior figures also set to depart. Read full story HERE.
Tomorrow an independent inquiry will publish its report into mistakes made by the regulator earlier this year regarding information given to the media which led to millions of pounds being wiped off leading insurance firms' shares.
Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman of the Treasury Committee, was cautious about the restructure of the FCA, saying it would need to be probed further before he could be satisfied.
He said: "Serious concerns have been raised – not least in Parliament – about the way that the FCA has approached its responsibilities since it was formed in April 2013. At first glance the changes announced today look substantial. The Treasury Committee and others will need to examine in detail the FCA's strategic review, and this consequent restructuring, to see whether they address the concerns raised.
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Among the key changes in the restructure are that the Authorisations and Supervision Divisions are to be combined with the specialist supervision functions such as financial crime and client assets.
Two new divisions will be created from April 2015 allowing for a clearer distinction between the approach to the regulation of large and smaller firms.
Clive Adamson, the FCA's director of supervision and a member of the executive committee and board member, will depart. Fellow executive committee members Zitah McMillan and Victoria Raffe will also be leaving the organisation.
Mr Tyrie said: "The FCA needs to exercise judgement to secure much better outcomes for consumers, not least by engaging more with the regulated community, by increasing competition and, where necessary, enforcing higher standards. It is on that basis that the review should be judged."
The Davis Review comes out tomorrow, assessing the FCA's handling of announcing of proposed supervisory work on the fair treatment of long standing customers in life insurance .
It was launched in March after the FCA's handling of information about its probe into closed-book insurance policies led to huge value being wiped off the share prices of leading insurance firms. Treasury Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie MP called it "an extraordinary blunder".
He said: "It is also crucial that the FCA learns any lessons that emerge from Mr Davis's report. The Treasury Committee was instrumental in ensuring that the apparent major error by the FCA in March 2014 was subject to independent external review. The committee intends to take evidence on both the pre-briefing inquiry and the strategic review in the coming weeks, initially from Mr Davis on his report on Wednesday afternoon."
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