Having laboured for many years under the absurd misapprehension that it was the outstanding knowledge, flair and entreprenuerialism of London’s long-established broking and underwriting community that sustained its preeminence as the global hub of big scary risk writing, Bankstone News was cruelly disabused this week when Besso exec chair Mickey Wade warned that the FSA’s plans to crack down hard on bribery could lose London billions of pounds of premium income.
Corruption clampdown unaffordable, Wade warns
Insurance Times’ cover star Wade exclusively revealed to the paper that that the regulator’s moves to fine firms for lacking systems and controls to prevent potential corruption were ‘misguided.’ “To be frank,” he warned, “it brings into question whether you bring business into London: that’s already happening.”
Whether it’s the bringing in of questions or of business that’s already happening is less than clear from Wade’s frank utterance. But either way Bankstone News feels pretty sure we should all be very alarmed.
