8th October 2009
"Goddersview"
As I look back over nearly 40 years in financial services, I muse on the vast amount of money and time spent by people with limited experience and knowledge jamming their metaphorical umbrella into the spokes of the industry’s front wheel. There was a long series of relatively minor failures post 1986 Finance Act building, one might argue, into the crescendo of the complete collapse of the British banking system. London Life, UK Provident Institution, NPI, Equitable Life, Northern Rock and finally complete meltdown. We have seen FIMBRA, IMRO, PIA, LAUTRO, FSA etc. all the same hopeless individuals switching business cards and pension schemes in much the same way as the new members of the EU Parliament are represented by the old Communists from the Warsaw block sporting different colours today.
When I sweated away at my AC11 and APM1 exams I was intrigued by the complete lack of expertise of tutors who clearly were clerks in big organisations topping up their modest incomes with a bit of moonlighting.
Now don’t get me wrong. My final act before retiring was to win £100,000 against Equitable Life for gross mis-selling by one of their salesmen. But the point is the criminal (yes, criminal) salesman simply moved on to HBOS leaving the Equitable to pick up the pieces. I will be releasing details very soon of another scoundrel whose misdeeds left a small company in the cart to pop up within weeks representing another company with complete impunity.
Until we have a sensible approach to regulation overseen by someone who actually knows something about the industry things will just get worse. Lord knows the Pharmaceutical Industry is far from perfect, but at least the strategy is right. The drug is regulated not the girl behind the chemists shop’s counter. Regulate the product, bring back caveat emptor and let the market deal with distribution.
Godfrey Bloom, MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire has long been a champion of IFAs and his voice is often heard in the media as well as in Brussels. He was recently banned from attending Mansion House and from attending a keynote speech given by Lord Turner in Brussels. Click here for more stories from the media about Godfrey.
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