COMPLIANCE TIP - February 2010

FSA CLIENT MONEY & ASSETS REPORT

Relevance

This compliance tip is directly applicable to all investment firms and insurance intermediaries having permission to hold client money and/or assets and should be of interest to other firms.

Content

Following an earlier 'Dear Compliance Officer' letter in March 2009, FSA have been carrying out further review work in the client assets arena. They have now published a further 'Dear CEO' letter for smaller firms and have also published a Report that contains observations from their most recent firm visits to a range of investment firms and insurance brokers. This letter will require recipients to review their compliance with the Client Asset Sourcebook (CASS).

The Report has the following key messages to firms:

• Customers must have confidence that their money and assets are safe and will be returned within a reasonable timeframe in the event a firm becomes insolvent.
• Customers must have confidence that firms holding their money and assets have strong management oversight and control over their business.
• FSA consider the protection of client money and assets to be a fundamentally important part of regulation and, as a result of the more difficult economic climate and their findings, are intensifying their supervision in this area.
• FSA have taken steps to rectify procedures at firms that have fallen short of their requirements. Targeted supervision and regulatory intervention will continue throughout 2010.

The latest letter draws firms' attention to FSA concerns over their handling of client money and assets and the action FSA expect firms to take to address these concerns.

Key Action Point

Firms need to urgently review their arrangements and procedures in this area. A number of recent fines and enforcement actions have already resulted from client assets failings and FSA are warning that more may follow. Quoting FSA directly from their Report: "Our actions taken so far demonstrate that our tolerance level for CASS compliance failures is low. In line with this, we will continue to take a more intrusive approach to the protection of clients' money and assets and we anticipate increasing the enforcement resources that we devote to client asset cases."

Comments and observations contained in the Report are based on FSAs visits to a range of investment firms and insurance brokers. During these visits FSA reviewed senior management oversight; governance arrangements; record-keeping; acknowledgement of trust arrangements; due diligence; and diversification. The Report also draws firms' attention to some of the broader reviews the FSA CASS Risk team are looking at, including CASS audit reports, title transfer agreements, unallocated excess cash in segregated accounts, improved reporting and FSAs work with HM Treasury on the regime for investment businesses. Further examples are also given of 'good' and 'poor' practices found.

Help

If this is an area you would like assistance with, or indeed if you have any queries on this subject please contact your usual Consultant or the Resources Compliance Birmingham office on 0121 616 3480.

The Dear CEO letter and Report can be found at:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/smallfirms/pdf/cass_dear_ceo.pdf

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/smallfirms/pdf/cass_risk_report.pdf