Robin Gordon-Walker, spokesperson at the FSA, emphasised the importance attached to timely submissions of regulatory returns.
The information contained is essential to the FSA’s assessment of whether a firm is complying with the requirements and standards of the regulatory system and to the understanding of that firm’s business.
Gordon-Walker said: “We do impose financial penalties for late returns in line with our Enforcement Sourcebook. In general the FSA’s approach to disciplinary action arising from a late submission of a report will depend upon the length of time after the due date that the report in question is submitted.”
The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI) has previously highlighted online reporting to be a new experience for intermediary firms and has produced a factsheet for its members.
It has been working with the FSA on a Retail Mediation Activity Return (RMAR) pilot and has been feeding troubleshooting tips to its members.
Ben Stafford, policy officer at AMI, urged authorised firms to register online to benefit from the FSA’s portal in order to receive updates and notifications.
He said: “Firms really must come to terms with the importance of regulatory reporting. They must know their year-end date which will determine when to send in their forms. If they don’t know, it’s imperative that they improve their awareness and quickly.”
Dev Malle, sales director at Pink Home Loans, commented: “We undertook research in March which showed a whopping 39 per cent of directly authorised intermediaries were still in the dark about reporting requirements.
“We still believe that there is more work to be done in this area and we are keen to support the FSA in raising industry standards and knowledge, and to stop fines being imposed on intermediaries.”
