Gordon Brown has decided to sack everyone at the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service because he thinks they've gone soft on him. He believes that there are too many companies and advisers selling investments and this must stop. He has announced a new regulatory regime called 'Caveat Vendor' with powers to string advisers from lamp posts and send their families to Outer Mongolia.
In 1997 Mr Brown threw a wobbler and imposed retrospective taxation on every pension pot in the land, he was a bit miffed by the fact that this stopped people investing in pensions and when his Stakeholder pensions flopped he threw his teddy out of the cot.
Investment companies and financial advisers are said to be packing their bags and moving out PDQ, one said 'We at Inequitable Strife have had enough of being bullied', we want our ball back or we will stomp off to a nicer place to be regulated in like India or China where we can sell lots and lots of policies to help make up for the shortfall in new business in areas like savings and pension provision of all types brought about by interference from the UK Government busy bodies.
