1st September 2010
What is Hector Sants' legacy?
IFA letter of the week
Being charitable I could say that he was so preoccupied with the banking crisis that he ignored the ministrations of the IFA sector when they shouted that they were being treated unfairly in comparison to the banks and that the RDR was a disaster looming ever closer on the horizon.
Were I bountiful with my comments I might say that he successfully steered the good ship FSA into calmer waters when other captains might have jumped into the dinghy.
The truth is that from a practitioner's standpoint he has continued with the unappetising agenda of his tiny predecessor. He appears to have little understanding of the retail sector although in recent months he has been undertaking worthwhile research (something that might be futile given his resignation).
Never in 22 years of regulation have I known such contempt and disgust with a regulator. The FSA is a body that either fails to listen or, alternatively, chooses to hear only those voices chanting their favoured mantra. The us and them divide has never been wider and Hector Sants tenure has served to highlight this far more graphically then with previous regimes.
Will his successor be more pre-disposed towards advisers? As the decisive vote is with the Treasury I guess we can all guess the answer to that one.
Alan Lakey - IFA
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