FSA prioritises op risk

LONDON – The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) plans to focus much of its efforts in the coming year on operational risk management issues, according to Thomas Huertas, director of the wholesale firms division of the FSA. Huertas, speaking at a British Bankers Association conference held in London in mid-February, said the five core areas of focus would be conflicts of interest, structured transactions, corporate governance, business continuity and stress testing.

"As we all know, conflicts of interest are embedded in the financial services industry," said Huertas. "Clearly, banks do not need to eliminate conflicts, but they do need to manage them, and they must not abuse them." One of the key conflicts the FSA is focusing on at the moment is mis-selling, so at the end of March, it intends to produce a consultation paper outlining exactly which products and services can be bought for a commission. The regulator is also reviewing how a sample of firms