FSA chief Hector Sants has sought to reassure firms that the government’s new regulatory regime would not produce duplication.
In a briefing to bankers, Sants said the new bodies supervising financial firms will “be able to act independently as they will be pursuing different goals” but stressed that “this approach is one of ‘independent but coordinated decision making’”.
For example, he said that firms filling in their “ARROW” risk-assessment forms will only file one form. But there will be “two supervisory teams assessing the risks against their new objectives”.
City lawyers expressed doubts over the promise to coordinate, with one calling it a “‘One Man Two Guvnors’ style of regulation’”.
Sants also revealed that the FSA will begin operating on a “twin peaks” model along similar lines to the new system in April.
