Well, now we get a sense of why the sociopaths redact virtually everything they can get their hands on when releasing information to the public, as previously redacted and restricted minutes of meetings show that the UK’s Financial Services Authority (“FSA”) actually coordinated with the very banking industry they were supposed to police. The documents show that the FSA “ . . . and 13 powerful financial industry trade bodies, including the British Bankers Association (BBA) and the Association of Financial Markets in Europe” were in collusion between 2006 and 2011 under the guise of the trade associations consultative committee (“TACC”).
Thus, the FSA, the people’s watchdog, was anything but. Remember, this is just some leaked information, and probably doesn’t accurately portray the entire scam going on, but some highlights:
“• The FSA discussed how a proposed financial transaction tax would make high-frequency trading “prohibitively expensive”, and assessed whether it were possible to form a coalition to block European restrictions on short-selling.
• The authority agreed on a co-ordinated effort to influence UK regulatory reforms, including opposition to plans of the business secretary, Vince Cable, for a new super-watchdog that would crack down on corporate governance abuse.
• The FSA discussed blocking new European rules to bring transparency to commodity markets through the European Securities and Markets Authority’s commodities task force.
• The authority discussed the best time for the industry to start lobbying on new EU financial transparency and investor protection rules via the directive known as markets in financial instruments (Mifid). It advised that ‘industry should engage as early as possible and at all levels.’”
Treasury select committee member John Mann described the disclosures as “debastating and show “the real inner workings of the banking sector.”
“The regulator and its head, Lord Turner, have paid lip service to their designated role of regulating the industry.. Instead, they have seen regulation as a negotiated partnership, where cosy deals are reached and where it is hard to see who is the poacher and who the gamekeeper,” said Mr. Mann.
The TACC meetings were apparently supposed to provide a forum for the banking industry to discuss the emerging risks to the markets at large, but it turned into nothing but Grand Order of the Poobah meeting, session 122357, how to control capital markets.
In its response, the FSA said: “We clearly state in our business plan [that] the FSA attempts to influence the international and European policy agenda for the benefit of the UK economy, and we do this by playing a prominent role in a number of EU wide bodies, and supporting the government in its EU negotiations.”
Story is HERE.