FSA deletes the annual reporting requirement on senior managers in the Handbook

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK announced today that firms will no longer have to notify the FSA each year of the roles and responsibilities of their FSA-approved senior managers. This move aims to reduce the administrative burden placed on firms and should save the industry about £2 million a year in administration costs.

The ending of the reporting requirement, agreed by the FSA Board last week, has immediate effect and will save firms from having to collate and report the information this year.

FSA General Counsel Andrew Whittaker said this change "is a sensible and practical piece of deregulation in the context of our programme to simplify the FSA Handbook and remove unnecessary burdens. It will reduce costs for firms and for the FSA without increasing regulatory risks."

The FSA is still considering the impact that the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) may have on the Approved Persons regime as a whole and will provide feedback on the regime later in the year. The reporting requirement is not dependent on the outcome of MiFID so the FSA has moved to drop it now, ahead of formal feedback, as all respondents on this issue, including large firms and trade associations, were in favour of the change.

BaselAlert.com