British regulators have finalized rules that govern how investment firms must protect the client assets that they control.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Tuesday that the changes include a rewrite of the client money rules for investment firms and substantial amendments to the custody rules designed to improve firms’ systems and controls for segregation, record keeping, and reconciliations. They also set out how investment firms must address client assets risks within their business.
The FCA says that the changes affect approximately 1,500 firms that carry out investment business, from the largest investment banks to the smallest investment advisor, who collectively hold over £100 billion ($183.3 billion) of client money and £10 trillion ($18.3 trillion) of custody assets. The final rules address lessons learnt from recent insolvencies, such as the failure of Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis, feedback from firms, and observations from the FCA.
“The protection of client assets is central to confidence in the UK markets and fundamental to consumers’ rights and the trust they place with firms. These changes will improve the protection offered to client assets and should speed up the recovery of client assets on a failure of a firm,” said David Lawton, director of markets at the FCA.
“Coupled with the increased focus the FCA has had on client assets, they will go a long way to ensure that confidence in UK markets is maintained and consumers are protected,” he added.