FINSIA has drafted a first of a kind set of industry-wide professional standards written specifically for individual practitioners working in Retail and Business Banking.
“This important project FINSIA is facilitating will enable professional standards to be developed for practitioners across the securities and banking sectors, commencing with Retail and Business Banking.” FINSIA chief executive Chris Whitehead Chartered Banker F FIN said.
“These standards will be the first of a series of individual professional standards FINSIA will develop.
“While it will be the case that some features of these professional standards will be common to other parts of financial services industry, there will be nuances and differences that will need to be considered and incorporated.
“Therefore, although Retail and Business Banking is FINSIA’s initial area of focus, a similar process will be employed to develop professional standards for other sectors of the industry.”
The five Professional Standards are supported by 21 Practice Standards which provide guidance on the type of conduct that is expected of professionals working in the Retail and Business Banking sector.
They have drawn on the best of 22 existing codes of conduct, standards and oaths and are now going through a sector-wide consultation process for feedback.
Mr Whitehead continued: “To raise the level of professionalism in the financial services industry there are several key building blocks that need to be in place.
“One of these is a set of industry-wide professional standards for individual practitioners.
“Over the past few months, we have been holding discussions with key industry stakeholders and FINSIA’s Retail and Business Banking Council regarding the draft professional standards. We are now moving into a more extensive stakeholder consultation.”
Acting Head of Standards Dennis Gentilin added: “The first version of these draft standards was produced by synthesising the content of 22 existing codes, standards, oaths or other similar documents that exist in the industry.
“The objective of this exercise was to ensure the draft standards captured the enormous amount of work that has already been undertaken in this area.
“Following this, the Retail and Business Banking Industry Council - a committee of industry practitioners formed by FINSIA - reviewed the standards and approved an updated version that incorporated their feedback.”
To ensure the standards carry the weight of consensus and an across-the-board industry buy-in, FINSIA is embarking on a larger stakeholder feedback exercise over the next six months.
“We are particularly interested in gathering feedback from the individuals to whom the standards will apply, including FINSIA members in financial services,” Whitehead added.
“These standards will help fill a gap as they will be the only standards written specifically for the individual practitioner working in the Retail and Business Banking sectors of the industry.
“Although codes and standards do exist in the industry, they typically have been written at the industry of institutional level.
“The professional standards FINSIA is developing will complement existing industry or institutional codes.
“These standards strike a balance between being high level principles but also containing enough detail so that they can be applied in practice. They provide a practical guide to help individual practitioners uphold the ethical behaviours and conduct required of them in their day-to-day work as a professional.
“Over the next six months we will continue to complete an extensive stakeholder engagement process to obtain feedback on the draft standards.
“No doubt the draft standards will evolve and adapt as we go through this process. That’s something that can only be seen as a positive. Ultimately these standards need to be shaped, owned, and embraced by the professional practitioners they will apply to.
“It is important that the professional standards reflect their views.
“For this reason, we are currently seeking feedback on the draft professional standards from all FINSIA members via a survey which we encourage all of our members to complete.”
Please find the Draft Professional Standards - Retail and Business Banking document here.
The survey can be found here.
