JANUARY NEWSLETTER
January 20, 2009
EVENTS
Our first business briefing of 2009 is with Lord (Paul) Myners, Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury, on 13 February. Given the current environment, it will be a great opportunity to hear from the Minister, who is responsible for financial services policy, competition and better regulation.
Ian Luder, the Lord Mayor of London, will speak at an SFE event in March, and we are working on a number of dates and themes for the year's programme. Look out for further information on the SFE website.
SFE IN THE MEDIA
Continued volatility in the industry has meant SFE has engaged regularly with the media, and we will continue to do so. Recent coverage includes interviews with Owen Kelly on Newsnight Scotland yesterday; a John Campbell news story and interview in the Sunday Herald last week, and an opinion piece in the Sunday Express from Owen the same day. SFE also responds regularly to industry surveys, including last week's CBI/PWC publication, see Scotsman article. Owen was also interviewed yesterday for CNBC in a piece to be broadcast later in the week.
We intend to list media coverage on the website. The easiest way to keep in touch with it is to use our RSS ‘ news and views' feed which will also give you our blogs.
FINANCIAL CAPABILITY
Many SFE members took part in a financial capability policy roundtable held by SFE and the Scottish Council Foundation in Edinburgh towards the end of last year. It followed a briefing by Aegon CEO Otto Thoresen on the Treasury's Review of Generic Financial Advice, which he chaired. Discussions at the roundtable made it clear that there is a lot of positive activity going on, much of it coming directly from member companies. Key findings include agreement that there could be better co-ordination; the role of the ‘trusted intermediary' should be explored further, and times of change or transition should be the focus for additional effort. SFE is in discussion with the FSA, a central player on this issue on how best to take these ideas further. Read the full report here.
RESEARCH INTO INDUSTRY'S ROLE IN SCOTLAND'S ECONOMY
We commissioned the Fraser of Allander Institute some months ago to update the work done by them in 2000, from which are derived some of our key industry-wide statistics, like the proportion of the Scottish workforce employed in financial services and our industry's contribution to GDP. This work is still in hand, though it is taking longer than planned. Our Sector Policy Groups will be taking it forward with the Institute and we hope to announce the findings soon.
OTHER EVENTS
We are always happy to highlight links to non-SFE events that may be of interest. Check here to see the latest list, and email us at info@sfe.org.uk if you have an item you'd like us to feature.
