Government and FSA to blame for procrastination over precipice bonds

Last week the Treasury Select Committee dismissed Aifa as a "pass the parcel" trade body but it is a...

Last week the Treasury Select Committee dismissed Aifa as a "pass the parcel" trade body but it is a tag that could far more aptly be applied to the Government and the FSA. Passing the parcel when it comes to responsibility has proved to be a speciality of the Committee's paymasters at Westminster right down to consumers themselves. Giving evidence to the committee, Aifa's director general Paul Smee was criticised for leaving it to the FSA to take action against those intermediaries accused of mis-selling precipice bonds. But the point, as made by Smee himself, is that Aifa is a trade bod...