Hector Sants has announced the introduction of a ‘twin peaks’ model operating within the FSA from 2 April 2012.

The chief executive of the FSA told the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) that the new model will mean that banks, building societies, insurers and major investment firms will, from this date, have two groups of supervisors, one focusing on prudential and one focusing on conduct. All other firms (i.e. those not ‘dual regulated’) will be solely supervised by the conduct supervisors.

He explained that the FSA could not completely replicate the approach proposed by the Government in the Financial Services Bill published on 26 January, but he emphasised that the changes would go as far as possible to ensure that the cutover to the new regulatory structure in early 2013 will be seamless.

He claimed that the change will embed the “forward-looking