Matt Dyer answers a question about authorisation of sole traders

Question: I am a general insurance broker, sole trader and 'one man band'. As such, I effectively cannot audit my own work, nor carry out assessments by myself. On this simple fact, does this mean that the FSA would be unable to authorise all 'one man bands'?

Answer: No. The FSA is very happy to have small businesses under its regulatory banner. In terms of self assessment, you might want to look at outsourcing to prove competence, apart from that there is nothing to stop you moving forward.

Matt Dyer is managing director of the Insurance Training Consortium