United Kingdom: Financial Services Authority

That is correct. Their website is here:-

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/



FSA staff, like all UK civil servants are entitled to join the appropriate Trade Union or Staff Association.



Rules are meant to be "rigid". If they weren't, they'd be "guidelines" or "suggestions". Anyway, FSA staff can be hired and fired just like anybody else, subject to the same employment legislation as everybody else in the UK workforce.



I'm not sure what a "Civil Service List" is, they don't exist in the UK. Is it some kind of waiting list?

Employees in the UK, whether they work for the Civil Service or otherwise, are protected from unfair dismissal. They are not protected from fair, ie deserved, dismissal, eg for serious breach of regulations, dereliction of duty, excessive absence from work, gross misconduct, dishonesty, etc etc.

Where are you going with this? I could take a guess, but I'd welcome your feedback.

United Kingdom: Financial Services Authority
Contrex-
Thank you for your informative reply.

You asked where I am going with this? I don't know, but I'll tell you where I am coming from with it.

1) I read that New York State Governor Spitzer just created a Commission to Modernize the Regulation of Financial Services. The governor's initiative follows studies that argue that the United States and New York City are at risk of losing the lead as a global financial hub to London and other centers. The studies cite the regulatory burden caused by overlapping regulators among other factors.

2) I agree that many overlapping financial regulators exist in New York State.

3) I am aware that the employee groups at one or more of these financial regulators are members of a trade unions and the employees of at least one of these financial regulators are not members of a trade union. (I am not sure, this group of employees may even be outside the scope of local, state and/or federal employment labor law.)

4) I am aware that each of the financial regulators has its own reputation for a particular level of efficiency and effectiveness.

5) I am aware that the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom has a reputation for a particularly high level of efficiency and effectiveness. I am also aware that the FSA uses a principles based regulation, rather than a laundry list of rules.


With the above in mind, I considered whether the non-unionized financial regulator has been more effective than the unionized financial regulators. Also, whether financial regulators subject to cumbersome rules are less effective than the ones not as heavily encumbered. It appears to me that the answer to both questions is a qualified "yes."

Then I wondered whether the FSA employees are unionized and/or subject to cumbersome rules and if not whether those facts might partly account for the FSA's effectiveness.