It means that we adhere to a code of practice that is basically designed to ensure good governance of our company to protect the interests of our customers.
All very sensible and as we go through our annual assessments, training and compliance documentation I have been reminded of the FSA's 11 "Principle for Business" which I have listed below.
I have tested our company against these principles and I hold them up as sound business practice. Which leaves me with the original question. If these are the principles that the FSA have set for all of the financial industry - "How Could It Have Gone So Wrong?"
- A Firm must conduct its business with integrity
- A Firm must conduct its business with due skill, care and diligence
- A Firm must take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems
- A Firm must maintain adequate financial resources
- A Firm must observe proper standards of market conduct
- A Firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly
- A Firm must pay due regard to the information needs of its clients, and communicate information to them in a way which is clear, fair and not misleading
- A Firm must manage conflicts of interest fairly, between both itself and its customers and between customers and another client
- A Firm must take reasonable care to ensure the suitability of its advice and discretionary decisions for any customer who is entitled to rely upon its judgement
- A Firm must arrange adequate protection for Clients' assets when it is responsible for them
- A Firm must deal with its regulators in an open cooperative way, and must disclose to the FSA appropriately
