News analysis - regulation: new regulator confidentiality proposal could spell trouble

Brokers have been warned that the recent announcement of a change in name of their future regulator, from the Consumer Protection and Market Authority to the Financial Conduct Authority, has come with a potential sting in the tail.

Steven Francis, regulatory partner at law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, said that while not all the reforms were utterly daft, the proposed ending of the confidentiality of investigations by the regulator was "hugely disproportionate".

He pointed out that pre-emptively informing a firm's clients of an investigation that could last for years "could do serious damage to the firm's reputation and business".

However, the danger does not stop there. Not only may clients be worried but in theory