This follows strong support from the industry for the proposal.
The change eliminates the need for firms to submit a form when an employee already approved for a customer function within that firm wants to move between customer functions or add a customer function to one already held. This gives firms administrative savings and added flexibility to respond to their business needs. It is the latest in a series of initiatives to streamline and simplify the Handbook which the FSA has implemented over the last year.
David Kenmir, FSA managing director of regulatory services, said: "Through our Handbook review programme and as part of our Better Regulation agenda, the FSA is removing regulations whose costs outweigh the benefits they bring. The merger of customer functions will save firms a further £1 million a year."
The merger will come into effect on 1 November 2007 at the same time as other Handbook changes relating to the implementation of the Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).
