The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("the Act") received Royal Assent in the United Kingdom on the 14 June 2000. Since then the UK Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (see below) have been drafting and consulting on the large amount of secondary legislation and rules required before the Act can come into force. The date of coming into force in respect of most regulated business is known as "N2" at midnight on 30 November 2001 the regulation of mortgages, for example, beginning at the end of August 2002.
The Act will establish a single statutory regime for the regulation of many kinds of financial sector business and a single statutory regulator, the Financial Services Authority ("the FSA"), to replace nine existing financial services regulators, including the Self-Regulating Organisations (the SFA, the PIA and IMRO). The FSA acquires formal statutory responsibility for the regulation of insurers, building societies and friendly societies. The FSA already exercises
