Chris Skinner's blog

Shaping the future of finance

FSA Fall Short on Investor Protection — WSJ

Chris Skinner Author Avatar
by

The FSA’s principle-based approach to
regulation has won it a lot of favorable attention in the US. Leave it to the Wall Street
Journal
to weigh in with criticism for its failure to protect individual
shareholders in the UK. The Journal sees the FSA as trying to protect the
London marketplace rather than the individual investor and quotes Jim Cousins,
a member of Parliament, saying the SEC would have been tougher in cases like
the split-capital investment trusts.

The Journal story leaves a lot to be
desired, focusing on one or two cases and quoting Cousins and a Harvard
business prof—its comparison of the number of FSA staff at 2,700 while the US
has 15 times as many in financial services doesn’t mention that includes 50
separate state insurance regulatory bodies, many of dubious value.

Nor does it look at the way the SEC in the
past has chased after kids while ignoring the huge conflicts of interest in
major Wall Street firms that Elliot Spitzer uncovered as New York’s Attorney
General.

The differences between American and
British regulation are getting a lot of attention as many in the US including
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen argue for lighter regulation to keep New York
competitive with London. See my blog
review of commentary
by Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Charles Schumer and skeptic
Ben Stein—an economics writer perhaps better known for his role as the teacher
in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

A lot of complex issues here and they
deserve better treatment than the Journal’s story.

Tom Groenfeldt

RegulationCategories
Chris Skinner Author Avatar

Chris M Skinner

Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...

Digital Transformation Programme

Learn directly from from one of the most influential people in technology, gain insights from the world's most innovative companies, and build a global network.

Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on FinTech 2022

Chris Skinner
Commentator, CEO of The Finanser and best-selling author at The Finanser

Thinkers360 Thought Leader

Contact Me

Best Financial Services Blogger

Chris’s latest book

Chris Skinner’s ‘Digital For Good’ Book Launch Event – CFTE

Global Awards

Best CEO of the Year UK 2022

Best Digital Finance Provider of the Year UK 2022

Best Financial Markets Adviser of the Year UK 2022

Portal to the Knowledge Base of the Financial Services Club UK 2022

Financial Markets Advisor of the Year UK 2022

Corporate America Today Annual Awards

Best Financial Markets Adviser of the Year UK 2022

Portal to the Knowledge Base of the Financial Services Club UK 2022

Financial Markets Advisor of the Year UK 2022

Nominee of MAD33 2021

Kids creating the future bank | TEDxAthens

Join me on Linkedin

Follow Me on Twitter!

UK’s most influential person in technology

Captain Cake and the Candy Crew

Captain Cake Winner of a Golden Mom’s Choice Award

TWO-TIME WINNER OF A MOM’S CHOICE GOLD AWARD!

TheNextWeb – #tnw

Learn more about Chris

About Chris Skinner

Presentation at ZBP, September 2020, Warsaw, Poland

Alex at the Financial Services

Gaping Void's Hugh MacLeod worked with the Finanser