Rise in overseas regulators requesting assistance

The Financial Conduct Authority has received a record 1,073 assistance requests from overseas regulators (up 14% on 942 requests in 2013). This is increasing the compliance burden for UK-based financial services businesses, which are obliged to co-operate, says City law firm RPC. Richard Burger, partner at RPC, says: “UK financial services businesses can be required to produce data about their own or their clients’ actions at the drop of a hat. This can be extremely disruptive for firms and therefore expensive, which should act as an additional incentive for firms to undertake robust due diligence on their clients.”