A long battle in the face of opposition

As the campaign by brokers large and small, to lobby hard against the Financial Services Authority over its final rules on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, takes shape; if the historic and recent experience of independent financial advisers with the FSA in this regard is anything to go by, there will be a long and bloody battle ahead.

Ten years ago, the FSA was holding fast to its decision not to cap levies, despite some heavyweight opposition, and it was only when a professional indemnity crisis hit IFAs that the FSA was forced to reconsider. Despite the resulting cap of £48,000 per claim being introduced, the remaining bad feeling is illustrated by the fact that IFAs have been reluctant to pay their dues to the regulator in a timely fashion. In fact, only 10% of IFAs have so far paid the controversial FSCS compensation levy in full.

The FSA, true to its uncompromising stance, has issued an ultimatum after which it has threatened to ban IFAs that fail to pay the full amount by the 31 August deadline. While the comparison is not absolutely analogous for brokers, especially when considering the FSCS levies for IFAs have been hiked to fund mis-selling claims, it does illustrate the regulator's total disinterest in bending on this particular issue - particularly now it has been 'set in stone' in the final rules.

But, despite ongoing rumblings on this front, even the likes of Andrew Paddick, who considers regulation to be 'bureaucratic overkill', admits that, on the whole, professional, well-managed brokerages have a lot to gain from regulation.

Managing a brokerage post-regulation will be a theme for the Chartered Insurance Institute's conference at the end of the month and the Professional Broking roadshows in October. Following the positive feedback from last year's event, the second Professional Broking roadshow aims to address final regulatory questions and will look at the practical dilemmas facing brokers. Apart from the networking opportunity, delegates will hear presentations from a range of speakers from the CII, Beachcroft Wansbroughs Consulting, InsurEcom, NIG and the British Insurance Brokers' Association with Eric Galbraith as the chair. There will also be a televised interview, conducted by myself, with Eleanor Linton, head of policy at the high-street firms division, FSA, in which I will be asking her, among other things, whether the decision not to make risk transfer compulsory was due to insurer pressure.