The Financial Services Practitioner Panel has launched the second stage of its 2006 survey of regulated firms to obtain an authoritative industry assessment of the performance of the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The survey, which is carried out every two years, is aimed at gathering industry views on the FSA and establishing a track record of the regulator's effectiveness and operations.
The first (qualitative) stage involved a series of interviews with senior staff from a cross-section of regulated firms and provided valuable feedback to help identify issues for inclusion in the quantitative questionnaire that forms the second stage. GfK NOP, on behalf of the Panel, has recently issued the questionnaire to over 10,000 firms; including all relationship-managed firms, a representative sample of smaller firms and, for the first time, to a representative sample of Mortgage and General Insurance firms.
Previous surveys have achieved a high response rate, providing robust feedback from the financial services industry. All responses will be treated in the in the strictest confidence - none of the information to be collected will be passed to the FSA or in any way identify the firm or the person completing the questionnaire.
The Panel plans to publish the survey findings later in 2006. It will then use the information to inform subsequent discussions with the FSA.
Roy Leighton, Chairman of the Panel, said:
"The survey is an effective tool for communicating practitioners' concerns, comments and suggestions to the FSA. The higher the response rate, the more authoritative and convincing the survey results will be. Past surveys have enabled the Panel to have a substantial, direct impact on front-line FSA policy-making and operational development. With your help we can ensure that this will again be the case. I strongly urge all firms who receive the questionnaire to take part in this important piece of work."
Notes for editors
The Financial Services Practitioner Panel was established under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to represent the interests of practitioners and is independent of the FSA. Members are drawn from regulated institutions and market users at a senior level. Membership rotates to ensure a balance between consistency and new input. The Panel was set up on a non-statutory basis in November 1998 (as the Practitioner Forum) and became a statutory body in June 2001.
The current members of the Panel are: Roy Leighton, Chairman, Nymex Europe Limited (Chairman); Jonathan Bloomer, former Group Chief Executive, Prudential (Deputy Chairman); Alan Ainsworth, Former Deputy Chairman, Threadneedle Asset Management; Matthew Bullock, Chief Executive, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society; Russell Collins, Head of Financial Services Practice, Deloitte UK; Clara Furse, Chief Executive, London Stock Exchange; Douglas Gardner, Distribution Director, Positive Solutions; Mark Rothery, Chief Executive, Ancient Order of Foresters Friendly Society; (Chairman of the Smaller Businesses Practitioner Panel); David Hardy, Chief Executive, London Clearing House; Colin Keogh, Group Chief Executive, Close Brothers Group; Gordon Pell, Executive Chairman, Retail Markets, Royal Bank of Scotland Group; Nick Prettejohn, Chief Executive, UK Insurance, Prudential; Andrew Ross, Chief Executive, Cazenove Fund Management; Patrick Snowball, Group Executive Director, Aviva UK; Alan Yarrow, Vice Chairman, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Further information on the role and work of the Panel, including a copy of the 2004 survey are available on its website: www.fs-pp.org.uk