Findlay Steele Associates Ltd

Who is Fergal George?

We heard nothing more from the other FSA until January 2001 when we received an email from them addressed to one Fergal George - a gentleman of whom we have absolutely no knowledge. The bulk of the email stated:

"Dear Sir

FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY - WEBSITE AND E-MAIL ADDRESS

Your e-mail address has been brought to our attention because of its similarity to our own which is fsa.gov.uk. We understand that you may be a journalist or writer on financial matters. Whether or not that is the case we are sure you will appreciate the concerns we have that your own e-mail address might easily be confused with our own. The same applies to the domain name www.fsa.co.uk. Do you also hold that domain name, in addition to the e-mail address? As you may be aware, the Financial Services Authority has responsibility for regulating the majority of firms offering financial services in the UK. The FSA's objectives are set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and include:

* ensuring that consumers are appropriately protected; and
* promoting public understanding of the financial system.

There is, at very least, a danger that some confusion may arise between our own e-mail address and domain name and other similar ones such as your own. In view of this risk, and the requirements of our statutory objectives, particularly the protection of consumers, we write to invite you to relinquish the e-mail address fsa.co.uk and to transfer this to the FSA. We would also invite you to transfer to us the related domain name if that is being held by you or on your behalf. We would undertake to settle all reasonable fees and expenses which you may incur in this respect. We trust that you will consider this request favourably and will appreciate our concerns about potential confusion in view of the statutory duties imposed on FSA."

Hmmmm ..... what would you do? Probably what we did - the e-mail wasn't addressed to anyone we know so we ignored it.

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