Librarian: Hello, I wonder if you can help me. I am looking for information about [description of information request].
FSA operator: Are you FSA registered?
Librarian: No, I am afraid not.
FSA operator: Well we can't help you then.

Judging from the comments of the information professionals at Katie McCaw's talk, ours is not an isolated experience. Katie is a Professional Support Lawyer in Norton Rose's banking group. Her talk provided three useful functions:

• an overview of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) as part of the ongoing reform of the financial services industry;
• a guide to fee based and free information sources relating to FSMA, and
• practical tips on obtaining information from the FSA.

(1) Overview of FSMA

Katie kindly provided a detailed note for this part of her talk. Notes are available from Katie (mccawk@nortonrose.com) on request from CLIG members. The section below is a summary of some of the most relevant points for information professionals.

The implementation of FSMA, Katie reminded us, was part of an ongoing reform in the financial services industry. Most of us are familiar with N2, 30 November 2001, the date that FSMA came into force. Katie set this in context by reminding us of N1, when the new regulatory regime for the banking industry began in 1998 with the transfer of responsibility for banking supervision from the Bank of England to the FSA. She also alerted us to N3 (currently set for mid-2004) which will continue the regulation of the financial services industry to include mortgage and general insurance contracts.

Katie also outlined some of the key changes that FSMA had effected. These included:

(a) FSMA made the FSA the single statutory regulator for the financial services industry. From N2 the other Self Regulatory Organisations (SROs) such as the IMRO and the PIA were abolished and their functions transferred to the FSA.

(b) FSMA required the FSA to exercise its rule making powers in a written rule making instrument. Thisis the FSA's Handbook of Rules and Guidance ("the Handbook"), the bane of many a looseleaf librarian's life. The Handbook contains the integrated texts of the previous rulebooks of the SROs (now abolished) as well as new material introduced under FSMA. The Handbook comprises 34 volumes of manuals as well as the sourcebooks.

(c) FSMA gave the FSA the responsibility for the operation of the UK Listing Authority. The FSA is thus responsible for producing the Listing Rules, rather than the London Stock Exchange as previously.

(d) FSMA established various new bodies including the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

(e) FSMA repealed a number of enactments including the Financial Services Act 1986, the Banking Act 1987 and the Insurance Companies Act 1982 as well as a large amount of secondary legislation.

Since N2 a number of later changes have also been effected. One of these is the regulation of electronic commerce in financial services by the FSA, following the implementation of the EU Electronic Commerce Directive into UK law in August 2002.

(2) Fee based and free information sources relating to FSMA

As the above section indicates FSMA brought with it a substantial amount of documentation. The Act itself is the longest piece of legislation since the Companies Act 1985. Over 100 pieces of secondary legislation have been enacted under FSMA to date and continue to be released. There is also the Handbook, the decisions of the various bodies established under FSMA and the Listing Rules to name but a selection. One of the ironies of FSMA, as Katie pointed out, is that although it introduced a single regulator for the financial services industry there are numerous sources of information available on the subject of financial services regulation.

The two main subscription services for financial services regulation are Butterworths Financial Regulations Direct (http://www.butterworths.co.uk/butterworths.asp) and Complinet - Rulebooks and Regulatory Update (http://www.complinet.com). The advantage of both these services over any free sites is that they provide access to the rulebooks of the now defunct SROs. As Katie pointed out, however, if hard copies of these rulebooks have historically been kept up to date until they became obsolete then these can be relied on when required. In terms of coverage of primary materials both services are very similar, offering access to FSMA 2000, all statutory instruments under it, the Financial Services Act 1986, the FSA Handbook and other FSA material (such as the Handbook Notices), as well as daily updates. Complinet also provides obsolete versions of the Handbook for reference purposes
and displays the date on which a section was updated and the date of previous versions. There are differences in functionality: Complinet, unlike the Butterworths service, for example allows users to post searchable electronic notes on any part of the Handbook. In Financial Regulations Direct the Handbook is searchable only one section at a time, whereas in Complinet multiple sections of it can be searched.

Katie reminded us that almost all of the information deriving from the FSA or related to FSMA is available publicly. Katie's review of these websites included the FSA site (http://www.fsa.gov.uk) with which most of us are familiar. The FSA site she reminded us not only provides the full text of the FSA Handbook, but also the most up to date and only definitive version. Less familiar sites included the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal decisions which provides access to the tribunal decisions in full text (http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/tribunals/comtax/financialServices.htm). Another useful site is the Treasury (http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk). The Financial Services Index on this site (accessed from the Documents tab and then the Financial Services subheading) provides links to explanatory notes and background for most FSMA topics. The links provide access to draft legislation, timetables for implementation, consultation papers and reports.

The Compliance Online site (http://www.complianceonline.co.uk) which requires registration but is free is also a useful resource. The reference library (accessed via the Research subheading) provides a regulatory document archive including historical statutes.

(3) Practical tips for dealing with the FSA

(a) Check if the Handbook is up to date. Katie reminded us that the looseleaf updates to the Handbook can be up to six weeks behind the Internet version. Sometimes even the version of the Handbook on the FSA website can be out of date by two or three days. To check if the section of the handbook that you are interested has been further updated, call the FSA and ask to be put through specifically to the department that deals with that part of the handbook.

(b) Rather than relying on the switchboard try the legal enquiries email (legal.queries@fsa.gov.uk). Many of the participants at the talk had found this a useful port of call.

(c) Next time you face the inevitable "are you FSA registered" query from the helpline, try the response no you are not, but you are representing clients that are FSA registered and how can you do so adequately if you cannot speak to the FSA (well it works for Katie nine times out of ten…)

Many thanks to Katie for a very useful talk and her extensive notes which she has kindly made available to CLIG.