FSA Goes Soft on Contract Certainty

I always thought "certain" meant 100% certain. How can something be "certain" if it's only 90% certain? It just doesn't sound right. But who cares what I think. In the London insurance market, it's what the FSA thinks that matters. And it turns out that 90% certain is certain enough for them.

The two-year deadline for contract certainty in the London insurance market has now passed, and the FSA has decided that the industry has done enough to dodge the bullet of regulatory intervention.

Never mind that, strictly speaking, the goal of contract certainty has still not been met.

In its self-assessment report, the Contract Certainty Steering Committee explains things like this:

"momentum is more important than perfection..."

and this:

"contract certainty is part of a journey..."

and this:

"contract certainty was never the end game..."

They stopped short of saying "contract certainty is a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there..."

And so the journey continues.