Firms considering applying to be regulated by GISC will have until 1 July 2004 to submit their applications for membership. Existing applicants must also ensure that GISC has all information required by this date or risk having their applications for membership rejected.
GISC Chairman, Anthony Howland Jackson, explained, “GISC will, of course, continue its regulatory activities until 14 January 2005, including monitoring GISC-regulated firms to ensure compliance with the Rules, and taking actions to enforce compliance, until the FSA takes over these responsibilities. I am determined that GISC retains its credibility as a regulator and maintains the value of the commitment member firms have made to GISC’s standards of good practice. Firms that have had ample opportunity to commit to voluntary regulation should not benefit from FSA “due credit” where we believe there is insufficient time in which to prove their commitment.”
Mr Howland Jackson went on to explain that GISC’s Membership Committee would continue to recognise exceptional cases. “There will be some circumstances in which new applications will be considered, for example new business start-ups and existing members that are restructuring their organisations. GISC recognises the value offered by membership, and will consider an application where it is clear the firm meets GISC regulatory requirements and was genuinely not eligible to apply earlier.”
Applications for GISC membership which are outstanding as at 1 July 2004 (ie. where the applicant has not provided all information required by that date) will be rejected and the membership fees (less appropriate administration charges), will be returned to the applicant.
The decision follows confirmation in November from Sarah Wilson, Director of FSA’s High Street Firms Division, that applications from GISC members in good standing will receive “a level of scrutiny which reflects the standards set by GISC” and that:
- in the case of applications where closer enquiries are deemed appropriate, the final judgement by FSA will be influenced by the degree and intensity of regulation that has previously been applied to the firm;
- regard may be given to the length of time that a firm has been subject to voluntary regulation;
- a member in good standing with GISC that resigns its membership between the date of application and the start of statutory regulation will be subject to further scrutiny.
