FSA promises new regulator will not be retrospective

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has promised that one of its replacement bodies, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will not be a retrospective regulator.

Taking over responsibilities for conduct regulation early next year, the FCA will aim to enhance the FSA's existing credible deterrence strategy, using new powers of intervention and enforcement. However, answering some frequently asked questions on the journey to the FCA, the FSA insisted the new regulator would not try to judge past actions on new rules. "We won't be a retrospective regulator - and we will judge what firms have done based on the rules and principles that were in place at the time," it said. "So we will judge actions from five years ago based on what the rules wer...