The FISA Self-Assessment was launched in mid-October and is now open for market use. There has been good interest from the banking sector, and we thank peak bodies and regulators for their support in getting the word out.
FISA is a confidential, voluntary and free integrity improvement resource, with no strings attached. It offers financial services organisations the chance for self-review as to how well they implement integrity practices that shape and strengthen culture and conduct across organisations – and how they can improve.
It also offers measurement against good practice benchmarks. The FISA Self Assessment covers nine focus areas: governance, accountability, policy oversight, communications, human capital, customer services, risk monitoring, operations and procurement.
Recent regulator actions indicate that at least three of these focus areas need urgent attention. Some financial sector providers clearly prioritise their business interest above their customer interest and others don’t pay sufficient attention to risk assessment. This manifests itself in poor conduct. In the last two months the FMA has issued a formal warning on an investment service, has filed court proceedings against a major insurer for alleged failures that led to customers being overcharged, and issued seven formal warnings to companies in the wholesale property investment sector around inappropriate targeting of investors for wholesale property offers.
The Department of Internal Affairs has also issued a formal warning in the last month, around failure to set up and maintain an AML/CFT programme.
Click here for further information on the FISA Self Assessment.
