FSA head of conduct policy Sheila Nicolls told delegates at the Mortgage Business Expo that the reviews would begin in the North West of England and would comprise of a visit, telephone interview or online assessment.
The type of assessment conducted will depend on the level of risk the FSA perceives are inherent in firms’ business models.
Face-to-face reviews will last around two hours and involve oral feedback on good practice and improvements that can be made. This will be followed up in writing.
Firms assessed online will also receive feedback.
Nicoll said: “Where we believe there are significant problems we may decide to visit to explore the issues of concern in more detail and provide more specific feedback around how we expect you to mitigate risks.
“We also plan to visit a random sample of firms to validate the information given during the review. This will also give us the opportunity to test the effectiveness of our approach and to ensure we are making the correct supervisory decisions.”
In addition to the review, the FSA will run a series of workshops, with the aim of helping brokers understand regulatory requirements and share best practice with others.
All small firms will be invited to regional workshops, which have been redesigned Nicoll said to be more interactive, with specific sessions for sole traders, smaller multi-adviser firms and larger multi-adviser firms.
