The Financial Services Authority's £8m fine of UBS for systems and controls failures has highlighted the responsibility of compliance officers to make checks as well as issue advice, according to some lawyers. Others in contrast said that the final notice emphasised that department managers should make their own checks, with the implication that the compliance officer's role was purely advisory.
The FSA told Complinet that it was up to every firm to decide on the division of responsibility between department managers and compliance. In this case, UBS had breached principle two by failing to conduct its international wealth management business from the London branch with due skill care and diligence and had breached principle three by failing to take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively, with adequate risk management systems. UBS employees had taken part in foreign exchange and precious metals trading using customer money without authorisation
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