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17 April 2008 / Diane Saunders
Issue: 7317 / Categories: Features , Regulatory , Banking , Commercial
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Interesting times

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How is the Financial Services Authority doing as a mortgage regulator? Diane Saunders reports

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has regulated mortgages since October 2005. Since then we have contacted the FSA to clarify rules or to check how we should proceed. Staff do their best to help, but often can't because they cannot give us exact guidance, while warning us that if we misinterpret the rules we will be liable to censure.

We are now charged to “treat customers fairly”. Well, we thought we did, but only 22% of mortgage intermediaries met the first deadline of March 2007, when they had to demonstrate they were applying the Treating Customers Fairly principles in a substantial part of their business. The final deadline has now been extended until December 2008.

The regulatory advice “industry” has grown because it is becoming more difficult for advisers to read the many directives and dictats issued and incorporate them into our working lives. The introduction of “principles-based” regulation does not seem to make much difference.

The FSA regulates everything

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Sponsored by
Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Switalskis—Naila Arif, Harriet Findlay & Ellie Thompson

Firm awards training contracts to paralegals through internal programme

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Ward Hadaway—Matthew Morton

Private client disputes specialist joins commercial litigation team

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Thomson Hayton Winkley—Nina Hood

Cumbria firm appoints new head of residential property

NEWS
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Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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Family law must shift from conflict-driven litigation to child-centred problem-solving, according to a major new report. Writing in NLJ this week, Caroline Bowden of Anthony Gold outlines findings showing overwhelming support for reform, with 92% agreeing lawyers owe duties to children as well as clients
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