Should wealth managers beware the regulator in 2012?

REGULATION

Although it has been said many times, many ways, all participants in the financial services industry are facing a period of unprecedented regulatory change.

A trend that is set to continue for several years to come, both nationally and internationally. In the middle of the last decade the industry was getting to grips with the FSA’s move to principles-based regulation and its implications. This was an era associated with lighter-touch regulation, according even to the FSA itself as discussed in its recent report into the failure of RBS. The 2008 financial crisis came along and the FSA embarked upon a new policy of “intensive supervision”, enforcing existing rules with increased vigour. The FSA also enhanced existing rules that were exp...