With the recent passing of John Noakes I was reminded of the following closing statement on 17th November 2015 from Simon Gaudion, Director Enforcement Division at the GFSC…..
I would also like to reiterate the comments I have made on previous occasions concerning our enforcement processes.
We are not trying to catch anybody out with what we do, we want everybody to understand the process and to be able to work with licensees and their legal counsel as opposed to wasting time and considerable amounts of money on attempting to derail the process, which let’s face it, costs me an e-mail or a letter but costs the licensee hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, in legal costs, which could be avoided.
The Commission believes that justice should be timely and attempts made again this year to delay matters or to break the process have been dealt with appropriately by the Commission’s Senior Decision Makers who, as you know, are all eminent UK based QCs.
The Commission will not flinch from taking appropriate steps where we feel that serious wrongdoing has taken place and we will resist all and any attempts to derail the process as happens all too often at present, which in some respects understandable but nevertheless disappointing.
It was interesting to read a recent Guernsey Press article where our industry of days gone by was being referred to and reference made, to none other than former Blue Peter presenter John Noakes climbing Nelson’s Column with no safety equipment or safety regulator in sight.
Although I am not saying I agree with the whole content of that article, I do agree with the general point which was being made.
The author, Horace Camp, was making the point that some 30 years ago, climbing the Column without any safety equipment was deemed to be acceptable and made the analysis of how working practices in financial services businesses of that era would also look differently from todays.
The fact remains that businesses have to keep up with the changing environment, whether it is a better ‘world order’ as it was put is always open to debate, but it is one that we all have to embrace if we want to survive and succeed.
To conclude then. I completely understand that, for those under its microscope, the Enforcement Division is about as popular as Christmas is to a Turkey.
However if there is a message from me to follow on from what the Director General talked about earlier, it is that firms need to have people with the requisite qualifications and skill set to carry out roles as Director, or within Risk and Compliance functions, and that even though it is a cost to firms, effective compliance should be maintained in order to ensure that the Bailiwick’s reputation is protected and all of the good business we have can prosper accordingly thereby providing wealth and a vast array of employment opportunities.
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