30 Jun FSA Criticised for Poor Record Keeping

A report created by Sir Anthony Holland has criticised the FSA for its failure to properly record and provide records, which ins some cases has led to investigations being hampered. Mr Holland, complaints commissioner and former principal PIA ombudsman, wrote tha "A number of cases concerned relate to calls made by consumers to the FSA’s customer contact centre. "While the commissioner accepts that it is not possible to retain actual recordings of all the calls made to the FSA call centres, where the FSA retains electronic written records, these should be obtainable if required as part of a complaint investigation. "In two complaints it is clear that there was difficulty in retrieving the records." Sir Anthony has also criticised the regulator for late delivery of documents, recently upholding a complaint against the FSA for delivering required documents as late as 10:30pm and le aving the with a neighbour. The letter to the complainant said: "You are unhappy that a courier sent by the FSA delivered a package to your neighbour, rather than you, between 10pm and 10.30pm at night. Specifically you feel that the delivery of a package at that time of night is unacceptable, particularly as the package, containing sensitive confidential material relating to an ongoing enforcement investigation, was simply left with your neighbour." With the FSA's powers looking more likely to be reduced by the government, this sort of investigation can only mean trouble for the financial watchdog.