Sants pledges worst Keydata offenders face extra punishment

Nameless

Threats, threats, threats. Does this man do nothing other than threaten people? Will the worst offenders at the FSA who were overseeing enforecement action of Keydata at the time of it's collapse also be sanctioned? I doubt it.

Posted by: Phil Castle

empty rhetoric

Oh yeah, and we'll see what of it, nothing as usual while they line their pockets at our expense. Sants continues making it up as he goes along in the hope it will all go away. No wonder there is little confidence in the way the FSA is run and manages risk.

Posted by: Fraser Brydon

Sants - Pants on Fire ?

As N&P IFA walk away home free, management, directors, and the head Honshu "retiring" with golden pension pot and all assets intact so just who is going to suffer let me guess very small firms that yes may have sold a few but certainly did not have the capacity to cause this amount of damage that's who. It is Mr. Sants and his cast of failures that has to go we need a new broom not just a re-branding.

Posted by: Mr Fisher

Fluff

So he will impose extra sanctions on the worst offenders. So how does that help the rest of us? It just adds to the FSA bonus pool. There is little chance of any action making a significant difference to our regulatory outlay. As has been demonstrated already the costs are being passed directly to clients - what else would you expect? So this letter and the whole discussion is somewhat irrelevant. The system needs changing and the only sensible course - as we all know - is a product levy. But that isn't politically acceptable because the Regulator and the Government want the public to believe that the compensation money is conjured out of thin air and that they don't actually pay for it in the end. Ironic when you think about it – we as advisers are heavily sanctioned for misleading the public. Yet there is so much both in and out of Financial Services that institutionally and intentionally by policy – misleads the public. The foregoing is merely but one example. Of course it also conveniently ignores the following: How much worse was the situation as a result of the tardy action (one could say dithering) of the Regulator? How much could have been saved if a harder bargain was struck with the fat cats doing the liquidation? Just look at those costs! I’d be interested to see a cost benefit analysis. This sort of work – if it is outsourced, as it invariably is – should be put out to competitive tender. How were the accountants appointed in this case? On what basis were they awarded the contract? We have to be transparent – a little more transparency from those who impose it on us would be most welcome.

Posted by: Harry Katz

Sants

And I thought santa only came once a year

Posted by: Robert Riach

Was Keydata Poor Advice?

Why go after IFAs? If Keydata had done what it said on the label these investments would have been reasonably sound. Small IFA businesses cannot have the same level of financial detail about a company as the FSA and we need to be able to rely on them actually doing the job that they are paid to do. If it says A&R by the FSA on the label we should be able to recommend it as sound. This happened on his watch and Sants should resign not threaten others. We should expect the same degree of professionalism and integrity from his organisation as he expects from ours. PS. This is a principle - I didn't sell Keydata so don't have an axe to grind here.

Posted by: Mr Smug

Mr Bamford's Letter

This was the real problem, capitulating on the classification of Keydata. A more sensible letter would have been to write about getting the law changed so that product providers paid for the failure of product providers - not IFAs! Mr Bamford's "solution" does not appear to show any understanding of the word "insurance". It also implies that he knows in advance which FSA regulated firms to avoid, and implies that it is possible for advisers to know more about regulated firms than the FSA does.

Posted by: Ken Durkin

Martin Bamford

Is this the same Martin Bamford, MD of failed Berkeley Independent Advisers Network, who sold many IFA's down the river along with Cliff Lockyer with questionable advice?

Posted by: Not suprised

Fine the FSA Staff

Shame he doesn't apply the same pricipals to F-Pac k sh*tty work coming out of the FSA. If the politicians did they would all get fined big time and the sack for major failures. Re: Bamford-IFAs shouldn't waste any space on a guy who appeases the regulator in any way and then moans about his FSCS bill. YOU CANNOT APPEASE A BULLY!

Posted by: Incompetent Regulators Awards Team

FSA duplicity and incompetence

As we all bleat on about this, Sants and his henchmen prove once again that they don't care one jot about the future of IFAs. The bias and predjudice against IFAs is deeply embedded in this collection of imbeciles at Canary Wharf. Snats should be sacked for his incompetence over keydata and someone with industry experience appointed to root out the ignorance that abounds at this dreadful mongrel of an institution.

Posted by: Dave Hedge

Reap as ye shall sow?

Hector, I told you not to listen to the professional complainers, the ones who spend their lives on blogs. Yesterday it was mortgage endowments, today it is Keydata, tomorrow will it be 'risk pofiling'? Let's get the structure right next time, sooner rather than later... for the sake of society.

Posted by: Evan Owen

The wrong Martin Bamford!

@Not suprised Wrong Martin Bamford, I'm afraid. My career history is NPI, Standard Life and (since 2002) Informed Choice Ltd.

Posted by: Martin Bamford

@Ken Durkin

Ken, I wasn't aware that I was offering a solution, only asking (with the support of 678 others) that the funding of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) be urgently reviewed. I was pointing out that one of the most unfair aspects of the FSCS is that the bad companies almost never pay. It seems entirely fair to me to create a system where firms that profit from the sale of failed investment schemes make a larger contribution towards the cost of compensating their clients. The petition also asked that the FSA ensures firms are properly classified, which Hector Sants says in his letter will be addressed again when the consultation is carried out.

Posted by: Martin Bamford

Martin Bamford

My apologies 'Wrong Mr Bamford'. No offence intended!

Posted by: Not suprised

Evan Owen

I seem to remember a certain Welsh man doing a very lot of moaning many years ago who pretended to run a union for IFAs?

Posted by: Lord Lucans Nanny

HEADS should roll

"Sants pledges worst Keydata offenders face extra punishment" The worst offender in this instance IS the FSA.

Posted by: lol

Over 16,000 IFAs

Fail to sign Mr Bamford's letter to the FSA

Posted by: Ken Durkin

Well said Dave Hedge

Well said Dave Hedge. Remember those in senior positions are very often over-rated as to their skill set. The senior management at FSA are marvellous corporate politians which (for many of them)is a skill learned in the Board rooms of Banks (did you listen to the CEO of RBS this week on Radio 4 Thursday morning 24th approx 8am .........brilliant corporate nonsense about Bonuses !!). Sants and Co are very poor managers and their understanding of risk is way too low in terms of its impact on the 'ordinary' customer. If I was appointed I could NOT perform any worse than the existing Board of the FSA. However, the oily wheels of corporate politics will mean those failures at the top will be paid generously for messing it up. Crazy but true !

Posted by: Roger