“Out go box-ticking and relentless focus on process. In come integrity, staff hiring practices and culture.”
The new broom at the FCA, Clive Adamson, has begun his work. And what a swathe he is making already through decades of accumulated process-dust. To continue the metaphor he has opened the windows of regulation and thrown out boxes of, well, box-ticking.
Instead the FCA will now look closely at more intangible elements. Do you know what your culture is and do you recruit for it? Do you hire with intuition or knowledge? Are customers and the integrity of the markets at the centre of your value proposition.
It’s easy to answer ‘yes’ to all of these. But how do you prove it?
Over the last ten years tools and methodologies have emerged which give management greater control on all of these issues. Many are widely used in industry with proven results. But they haven’t been implemented in City firms because the process-driven regulatory framework was dominant. Now all that has changed.
For banking and finance it’s an exciting new era. Because for the first time regulation is being aligned with what firms want to be doing anyway: improving staff retention, enhancing productivity and increasing profits. So out with the old and in with the new. It’s better for business.
