MSE News: Guest Comment: How the Financial Conduct Authority should benefit consumers

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Chris Pond from the Financial Services Authority explains what his views are on the new Financial Conduct Authority"

Read the full story:
Guest Comment: How the Financial Conduct Authority should benefit consumers

4$£&*(£$&*(!

FSA link doesn't work, email link bounces back.

Former_MSE_Dan

Thanks CitySlicker - these should now be fixed but let us know if not

ta

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Email seems to have gone fine now, thanks.

*MF*

@ Chris Pond

Welcome to the MSE Forum.

May I take up your offer to have a two-way conversation, not just on my behalf but I strongly suspect on behalf of many other members here on MSE?

The subject I, and I suspect many others, would wish to discuss is whether bank charges were and are fair or unfair.

Is your offer as open, as genuine, as sincere as your Guest post would have us believe?

Are you indeed willing to have an open discussion and conversation here, in public, on the Money Savng Expert forum?

I await your response with great interest.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

He's not registered on the forums so I cannot welcome him.

I suspect sadly we are another 'stakeholder' the new FCA policy team have been tasked to canvas for our views. Tick-box exercise, although I have sent an email on my area of interest (home insurance companies penalising bankrupts and their families for life by asking if anyone has ever been bankrupt regardless of how long ago this was). I have that sinking feeling I won't hear anything back.

Sceptic001

Probably not what they want to hear, but what is the point of this new quango? It is a whittled-down version of its predecessor, the worse than useless FSA.

Leave it to the Office of Fair Trading, which is a far better consumer champion, as today's ruling on debit cards shows.

FSANeil

Hi all

It’s Neil from the FSA’s consumer team here. I work with Chris.

We are keen to get the public’s view on what they would like from the new financial regulator.

We are taking note of what is being said and are keen to get as many thoughts as possible – thanks for your email CitySlicker.

The best way to do this is by emailing us, every one does get read, or by posting your views here.

Neil

*MF*

@ FSANeil

Hi, Neil

Re the post above - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=44811616&postcount=5

It's a NO then, is it?

No, seriously - could you simply confirm - is it a no?

Just not the done thing for a regulator, just too risky perhaps, to take part in an open discussion - here on MSE - in public - on a subject (the fairness or otherwise of bank charges) that has affected, and continues to affect millions of consumers?

The_Bleurk

To FSA Neil,

One factor governing the inability of the FSA to be effective in the past will not change with the creation of the FCA. Inevitably time and effort to cover the enormous breadth and depth of the remit will be limited.

I agree that therefore the FCA should be adopting a risk based approach to determine where that limited attention, time and effort should be directed but inevitably much malpractice will still pass un-noticed or unstopped and we will continue to see some of these develop into the kind of major scandals that have occurred over the last 20 years.

Can we not see a shift to co-opting the resources of firms in their own self regulation in a legally binding manner such that they must proactively 'design out' malpractice before bringing anything to market with swingeing sanctions for failing to do so? That is make it in the firms' self interest NOT to do wrong in the first place.

Otherwise it seems we will always be closing the door on an empty stable.