Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has last week fined BNP Paribas Private Bank (BNPP Private Bank) £350,000 for weaknesses in its systems and controls which allowed a senior employee to fraudulently transfer £1.4 million out of clients' accounts without permission.

As Margaret Cole, who is FSA Director of Enforcement, said "This is a warning to other firms that we are raising our game in this area and expect them to follow suit"

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Small firms using compliance consultants should act on the advice they are given if it would help them comply with their regulatory requirements, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said yesterday. The FSA visited 22 small firms employing compliance consultants in early 2007 and found nearly half of them still had significant weaknesses in respect of their regulatory requirements. The work also showed over a third of these firms were not acting on recommendations from their consultants that would have improved their regulatory position


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Factsheet [PDF] designed by the FSA to help small firms select compliance consultants

One of the key objectives of then ewly established Financial Crime & Intelligence Division (FCID) is to assess the nature and scale of financial crime and our performance in tackling it. It is often said that no reliable figures exist for financial crime, and many others suggest that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) should focus solely on tackling financial crime rather than measuring it.

A survey was carried out and released yesterday. In conducting this survey it became apparent from a very early stage that the FCID would not be able to establish the quantum of financial crime in the UK. After all, firms are unable to see the complete picture, and there was a common perception among respondents that all people involved in the fight to reduce financial crime can only see the tip of the iceberg. Despite this, the FCID is continuing to explore the potential for establishing a recognised methodology to assess the scale and incidence of
the financial crime in the UK.

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