Watchdog said regulators dithered over intervention

A consumer watchdog has recently claimed that regulators spent too much time dithering over intervention when it came to regulations, which resulted in failure to protect consumers when it came to sectors such as finance, food, energy, and water.

A review was carried out of six regulators that were responsible for various sectors including energy, water, communication, postal, food, and finance. The review lasted for a period of fourteen months.

Now, the consumers watchdog, Consumer Focus, has said that regulators spend too much time dithering and have failed to quickly step in and intervene to protect consumers. It said that regulators were relying heavily on self regulation rather than intervention, and this was proving detrimental to the average consumer.

The review followed a report from the Financial Services Authority stating that a ‘regulation revolution’ was required. The watchdog group has concluded that in order to provide consumers with the protection that they are entitled to regulation needs to be much tougher in these industries, and far more intervention from regulators is needed.

Steve Brooker, the watchdog’s head of fair markets, said: “What the public needs are robust, decisive regulators who are not afraid to flex their muscles. At the moment, some regulators are seen as dithering and slow to act when it comes to protecting consumers.”

The consumer group produced the Rating Regulators report following the review. It said that there was misplaced trust in the markets that were pushing companies to change their behaviour. Lord Turner, the head of the Financial Services Authority, asked for the regulation overhaul after stating that not enough questions had been asked over the strategies of a number of banks that went on to fail, adding that ‘light touch’ regulation was to blame.

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