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By Andrew Holman
Why is Europe so slack on the IMD?
Three pieces of news leapt out at me last week. Firstly, it was with a mixture of amusement and anger that I read that so many European countries have not yet implemented the Insured Mediation Directive, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Greece and Italy.
I read on to discover that the European Commission intended to write to the regulators in these countries and ask for information on when they are likely to comply. I presume this will take the form of a “Dear CEO” letter, which the Financial Services Authority is so fond of sending but without sanctions, such as depriving the recipient of a means to make a living.
It is important to know when these countries will actually implement the directive and in what form because in the UK we are trading at a disadvantage to our European cousins. And that is not just because we have to spend more time complying and less time doing economically productive things but because we also have to keep more capital tied up in our business that we could otherwise use to make additional returns or develop new products.
The next piece of news was the proposal to give fathers up to six months paid paternity leave. Given men are not subject to the same biological restrictions on procreation that women are, I suppose every working male is a potential candidate. Like existing maternity leave, I wonder how many owner managers will take it up – perhaps they will be able to make a claim for discrimination.
The third snippet was that the government has caved in on the reform of public sector pensions, leaving bureaucrats with their final salary schemes and early retirement opportunities, while the private sector (which pays for it) is forced to raise retirement dates, struggle with FRS17 and plug the hole that the Chancellor made with the first of his stealth taxes.
It occurs to me that private companies are like some modern-day Sisyphus,
condemned to an eternity of pushing a boulder of regulation up a hill only
to find the next morning it is at the bottom again. Among the unrelenting
torrent there is a faint glimmer of hope, however, and that is the FSA’s
review of regulation in April next year. When the opportunity comes to give
feedback it is vital every one of us makes our voices heard. After all, we
wouldn’t want the FSA to think their client money rules are simple to
execute.
Post Magazine 27th October 2005
