The Financial Services Authority is restructuring operations in response to the financial crisis, the UK regulator said Thursday.

The FSA announced that it is introducing a new operational structure “designed to better align its internal operating model to its core activities of identifying and mitigating risk, supervision and enforcement”; and to improve its participation in international regulatory cooperation, macro-prudential analysis and consumer financial education.

The changes will take effect from October 1 and will conclude the significant internal reforms the FSA has undertaken during the last two years, incorporating the lessons learned from the banking crisis, the internal review following the failure of the lender Northern Rock, and the Turner Review.

Retail and wholesale firm supervision will be consolidated into one business unit; risk identification, risk management and policy formulation will be rolled into a single unit; the existing financial stability team will be expanded; a new international division will be created; the enforcement and financial crime units are to form one division; and the financial capability division will become a standalone division.

“These changes will provide greater clarity, both internally and externally, as to the way we work and, in particular, reinforce our role as micro-prudential supervisor based on a model of integrated risk analysis and integrated supervision,” said FSA chief executive, Hector Sants. “I believe the actions we have taken since the crisis began have shown the effectiveness of this model. This reorganisation will ensure our changing working practices and the way we make our judgments are successfully institutionalised.”

IE