Any discussion of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), invariably results in the words ‘Legal & General’ being uttered. In January this year, the UK’s Financial Services and Markets Tribunal (FSMT) appeared to give a slap on the wrist to the FSA for the ‘significant error’ it had made in its investigation of alleged mis-selling that resulted in an initial £1.1m fine, later reduced to £575,000 by the FSMT.
Despite this, a recent Legal Week Benchmarker survey found that 70% of UK in-house counsel think the FSA is an ‘effective’ regulator. But, as the Legal & General case demonstrated, the regulator has not been without its critics. Last month’s Legal Week roundtable, hosted in conjunction with Simmons & Simmons, sought the views of those who deal with the City watchdog.
