The failings of the individual in question related to his failure to ensure that customer complaints were dealt with correctly and compliantly, according to the FSA’s principles, both for business and for approved persons.
However, the underlying issue goes much further than just failings relating to the ‘Dispute Resolution: Complaints’ section of the FSA handbook.
As we are all aware, compliance responsibilities relate to every area of a business and its management, and the role of ‘head of compliance’ should not be taken lightly.
There can now be no doubt that simply wearing the label of ‘compliance director’ or ‘compliance officer’ is not enough.
With this warning shot from the FSA across their bows, firms need to look carefully at their arrangements for systems and controls, which are the only effective way to ensure that the regulator’s principles are being upheld – especially at a time when the delivery of the ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ (TCF) outcomes is under intense regulatory scrutiny, as the deadlines for embedding the initiative approach.
Richard Angliss
Managing director,
Home Buyer Systems Ltd
