Liquidity regulation to cost £700 million and 15 man-years of work

Research by Atos suggests compliance with new liquidity requirements could cost UK institutions £700 million

LONDON - Compliance with new liquidity regulation could cost the UK financial services industry between £300 million and £700 million to implement, and cost its largest institutions 15 man-years of additional work over the next year, according to research by consultancy Atos.

Financial institutions will be under intense pressure to comply with FSA rule changes, according to Atos, despite the regulator delaying an initial deadline to make for an implementation date of January 2010.

The stress placed on firms by recent job losses and large-scale restructuring, mergers and acquisitions will complicate the process of drawing together the strands of information necessary for compliance.

The study says firms should already be at the assessment stage of compliance. Due to the range of sources and systems from which banks must draw data for the FSA's daily, weekly and monthly reports, implementation needs to begin imminently.