The Complaints Commissioner has told an adviser no more resources should be dedicated to his battle with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over the accuracy of its register.
In a ruling on a dispute between the adviser and the FCA dating back to 2005 and published yesterday (21 August) the commissioner found in favour of the regulator and said the complained was closed.
The original complaint related to an adviser and his wife who were directors of one firm which was an appointed representative of an another until 2004.
In 2005 the principal company was publicly censured by the FSA and in 2009 the adviser became aware that his and his wife’s entries on the register gave the impression they had been directors there and undertook controlled functions, which was incorrect.
Antony Townsend, the complaints commissioner, had found in favour of the couple in 2017 and told the FCA to look into the inflexibility of its register after the regulator's IT department found it could cost up to £100,000 to address the issue.
But the adviser has complained again, saying the explanatory text the FCA had added to its register made the issue "as misleading as ever" and this text was "wholly inadequate".
But Mr Townsend ruled these issues had already been considered by both the FCA and himself, and that the adviser's disagreement on this was no reason to reopen the complaint.
He said: "I realise that you want the FCA to amend the register in the way that you believe is required. I appreciate that this remains of great concern to you, and I have previously expressed my sympathy for the situation you have found yourself in.
"Nevertheless, I agree with the FCA that there must come a point when further resources should not be devoted to matters arising from this situation. I consider that this point has now been reached.
"I must consider the resources of my office and the extent to which further inquiries and responses are justified, given that the substantive matters have already been looked at extensively. I have concluded that it would not be productive to look further into your complaints about these matters."
When the adviser originally complained to the FSA in 2009, they were told rectifying the matter by amending the register would be too costly but the regulator had added "guidance notes" to clarify the situation.
The regulator committed to re-examine the issue when the register was redesigned some years later but it did not, and the "guidance notes" explaining the situation, were deleted during this redesign.
In 2015 the adviser’s MP had written to the FCA complaining that the new version of the register continued to display the misleading information, but was told the information was correct and did not merit changing.
In his 2017 ruling Mr Townsend recommended the FCA should pay the adviser £1,500 and said it was "a matter of concern" that the register was so inflexible that amendments to correct misleading information should be "prohibitively expensive".
The FCA is currently looking to redesign its register again and to create a new directory of individuals and firms to address the problem caused by the introduction of the senior managers regime, which was set to mean only senior managers will appear on the register.
When launched the directory will include information on all those who hold senior manager positions, which require FCA approval, and those whose roles require firms to certify that they are fit and proper, which do not.
It will include details of where they work, what roles they hold, what type of business they are qualified to do and whether there are any regulatory sanctions or prohibitions against them.
damian.fantato@ft.com
