The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has recently undergone a revamp, firstly, planning the establishment of the Financial Conduct Authority and a replacement of the name, Consumer Protection & Markets Authority (CPMA), for Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). More information about how the financial services regulation will work under the proposed regime has been revealed too. Plans have been set out for the creation of a regulator with a “lower risk appetite” than the FSA, along with a whole slew of additional powers to enable the banning of products and to get more involved. Indeed, the Treasury’s aims to make the FCA’s work similar to some of those of the FSA’s while changing them in others. The FCA will be expected to work with the assumption that it is ultimately the consumers who are responsible for their own decisions; this should be counter to its more interventionist agenda.
