RETAIL FINANCIAL SERVICES:

What is the most significant thing to happen in your business this year? 

Business owners live with this sort of conversation in their heads. Others consider occasionally, often annually or through formalised six monthly type reviews. How does your situation relate to world news? Is the Ukraine war your biggest concern, or the leadership contest or just the paralysing effect of slumped prices in world stocks and shares? For retail financial services I'll come up with one you might be surprised with. 

The FCA clamp down on new authorisations. 

Gone is the old approvals department, a sort of free wheeling come and go as you like but pay us some money operation that rarely if ever studied the voluminous documentation that IFAC sent on behalf of their members seeking approval. 

Thousands of pages of manuals and plans and supporting documentation was ignored by a inexperienced case officer ticking bureaucratic boxes. Now this has changed - and an intensive scrutiny is being applied. Zero tolerance is the new buzz word at 12 Endeavour Square. There is no hype about this change, no consultation papers, new "Consumer Duty" or any other policy papers or legislation, just a trained eye reviewing the documentation submitted properly.  

This is the best news you've had in years. The value of your FCA licence is higher than ever before. The barriers to entry are what keep the money flowing, and the competition at bay. Look after your franchise, because you may not get back in again.

July 22