The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is a quasi-judicial body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom. Its board is appointed by the Treasury, although it operates independently of government. It is structured as a company limited by guarantee and is funded entirely by fees charged to the financial services industry.
Its main office is based in Canary Wharf, London, with another office in Edinburgh. When acting as the competent authority for listing of shares on a stock exchange, it is referred to as the UK Listing Authority (UKLA), and maintains the Official list.
The FSA's Chairman and CEO are currently Lord Turner of Ecchinswell and Hector Sants, although on 16 March 2012 Sants announced his resignation, effective from the end of June that year.
On 16 June 2010, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced plans to abolish the FSA and separate its responsibilities between two new agencies, one to be part of the Bank of England.
Read more about Financial Services Authority: History, Criticisms, Visual Identity
Famous quotes containing the words financial, services and/or authority:
“One of the reforms to be carried out during the incoming administration is a change in our monetary and banking laws, so as to secure greater elasticity in the forms of currency available for trade and to prevent the limitations of law from operating to increase the embarrassment of a financial panic.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“I see this evident, that we willingly accord to piety only the services that flatter our passions.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“Death is the sanction of everything the story-teller can tell. He has borrowed his authority from death.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)