FSA body enlists Labour MPs to ambush financial reform bill
A KEY FSA body is trying to ambush the government’s flagship financial reform by enlisting the support of opposition MPs to insert a last-minute amendment, City A.M. has learned.
The change being pushed by the FSA’s Consumer Panel, an influential advisory body, would give firms a new explicit legal “fiduciary duty” towards their customers that would go far beyond their current responsibilities.
It would require them to sign up to avoiding conflicts of interest in serving clients, not profiting off customers without telling them about it, giving “undivided loyalty to the customer” and vowing to keep their information confidential.
The Consumer Panel will tomorrow unveil a briefing paper outlining the amendment to the Financial Services Bill, which would fundamentally transform the relationship between financial firms and their customers and could make it much easier for consumers to sue over issues like the recent payment protection insurance mis-selling scandal.
The amendment has been tabled by shadow Treasury ministers Chris Leslie and Cathy Jamieson as well as Mark Durkan of Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labour Party.