JERSEY: JFSC Consultation Paper on Amendments to Codes of Practice

Thursday May 19 2016

The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) has published feedback on Consultation Paper No.12 2015 concerning amendments to Codes of Practice. The CP sought views on a number of proposed changes to the Codes of Practice, the most significant of these being:

An amendment to the introduction to each Code to reflect the recently amended statutory description of a Code as a document issued for the purpose of, “… setting out the principles and detailed requirements that must be complied with in the conduct of [type of regulated business]”;

An amendment to each of the Codes to make it clear that all notifications required to be given to the Commission must be in writing (at present, some provisions in the Codes are silent on the form of notification);

Refining, in a number of places, the language describing the time period in which a matter must be notified to the Commission (in particular, to avoid the use of slightly ambiguous expressions such as “promptly”);

In relevant Codes, updating the complaints handling section to make it a regulatory requirement for a registered person to:

• advise complainants that, if they are dissatisfied with the registered person’s response to their complaint, they may be able to refer it to CIFO (and the registered person would be obliged to provide CIFO’s contact details);
• notify the Commission if CIFO requires the registered person to pay compensation to a complainant or directs the registered person to take other specified steps in relation to a complaint; and
• deal with CIFO in an open and transparent manner.

Taking into consideration the feedback received on the above, the Amended Codes will be issued shortly and come into force two months thereafter.

Click on the link above for further details.