So Equitable Life auditors Ernst & Young are to be fined £500,000 by the accountants' Disciplinary Tribunal (reduced on appeal from £4.4 m); and JP Morgan docked £33 m in a (final ?) flurry of activity by the unloved FSA.Some disparity, surely ? JPM's offence was that they did not segregate clients' funds - which is pretty outrageous and certainly put them at risk, but in the event did not give rise to actual losses.
By contrast, E&Y's failing can be seen as contributory to huge losses on the part of many of Equitable's customers. One is reminded of Seller and Yeatman's masterful summary of Magna Carta which provided, inter alia, "that the Barons should not be tried except by a special jury of other Barons, who would understand".
So the Equitable pensioners await the new compensation scheme promised by t'Coalition: and we all await the dawn of a truly punitive regulatory regime that makes financial players think twice before misbehaving.
ND
1 comment:
I think with JPM there's a lot more stick to it than that, Nick. JPM are held responsible for being the driving force behind all the troubles.
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