The friendly face of the FSA

The UK took the world stage in July, beginning with the Live 8 concert, scooping the bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012 and hosting the G8 summit. Sadly, the UK was then thrust into the world spotlight for very different reasons when a hitherto 'sleeping menace' awoke and ushered in an era that many were shocked, if not surprised, to witness. And the Professional Broking-co-hosted British Insurance Awards at the Royal Albert Hall the night before the events of 7 July, played more than its usual role in celebrating excellence in the industry. Many who attended awoke later than they normally would, with aching heads, after a night of merriment and, in doing so, avoided the sort of carnage that will be the subject of many column metres probably for many years to come.

But, while great cultural and social highs and lows were experienced in the UK, its insurance industry continued to change by degrees. After the Financial Services Authority's stoic response to the findings of the Professional Broking Sentiment Survey last month, a tangible change of approach was undertaken by the regulator. By providing a senior staff member to not only attend but reassure brokers at the Professional Broking Broker Management Forum (see p26), the regulator has now deemed it time to produce its friendly face. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services was also given a taster of the regulator's charm offensive after FSA chairman Callum McCarthy unveiled the new approach. Whether this will remain will largely depend on how the markets respond.

Simultaneously, however, a missive from the regulator to wholesale firms imposed a deadline of 31 August to 'get their houses in order', after a catalogue of errors came to light with their implementation of rules concerning the handling of client money. The fact that, of the 30 or so wholesale firms that have been visited, 14 failures were found, indicates the client-money rules and understanding of them is still a fraught issue. Many consider this should be made compulsory, but opinion varies greatly among brokers about this. While the regulator is due to revisit the rules on client money in January, why not vote in this month's poll to shed some much-needed light on the issue.