The FSA hopes to establish the full cost to financial firms of compliance with regulation under the Financial Services and Markets Act. From this, it hopes then to identify those costs that are incurred solely as a result of the Act and those that firms would still incur even if this regulation were not in place. It believes that it is the first financial regulator to undertake such an ambitious research project.
The project will initially focus on measuring the total and incremental compliance costs of regulation for small and large firms in three regulated sectors:
- Investment banking – Corporate Finance advice
- Investment and pension advice to retail customers
- Institutional fund management
Once the methodology is established, it may be extended to other sectors in further projects.
Samples of firms in these sectors will be invited to attend workshops, asked to provide returns, and interviewed by Deloitte staff. Trade associations and firms from sectors not included in this initial work will be kept informed and will have the chance to contribute.
The regulator announced its plans in its 2005/06 Business Plan, published in January, and the completed study will be published towards the end of the year. The Panel and the FSA will publish their responses to the study and plans for future work at the same time.
