The 'Performance Account' report, provides detailed information about the FSA's performance, the new standards, and the measurement of customer satisfaction.
David Kenmir, Managing Director of Regulatory Services Business Unit said:
"As we set out in our Business Plan we are committed to continuing to improve our business capability and effectiveness, and to providing faster turnaround times for the regular interactions between the FSA and firms, consumers and other stakeholders.
"Increased transparency on our performance against our service standards is an important part of this commitment. We must be accountable, and are now addressing our performance in relation to the service standards that were not met. Where we are already meeting our standards we will maintain, and improve where possible, the level of service we provide."
"We are also introducing further standards, and introducing customer satisfaction measurement to ensure that we are able to respond to the concerns of our stakeholders and to provide an even better service in future."
The Performance Account shows that against the 62 standards that were measured for the period up to 31st December 2004; just under 60% were met; 22% were nearly met (over 90% of the target level was achieved) and 16% were not met.*
The 11 new service standards, which will be introduced on 1st April, include ones for cancellation of authorisation and processing of appointed representative notifications, and have been the result of discussions with firms, trade bodies and other stakeholders who are most affected by them.
Also from April the FSA will begin customer satisfaction measurement to help the organisation better understand how it is performing in key areas and to identify the particular areas where firms want to see an improvement. This work will initially cover 5 key processes but will be rolled out to other areas in due course. An independent organisation will be contacting firms by telephone and will use a questionnaire (developed and tested with firms) to gauge industry views on topics such as ease of use of the applications forms, length of time the process took and responsiveness of the FSA's staff.
Background:
- In future the FSA will report on its performance against these standards every 6 months, rather than annually. The next report covering the 12 months to 31st March 2005 will be published in April, and the one after in October,.
- * The remaining 2% relates to the Individual Guidance standard as set out in the Performance Account.
- The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and fighting financial crime.
- Our aim is to promote efficient, orderly and fair markets, help retail consumers achieve a fair deal and improve our business capability and effectiveness.
