Charles Stanley chief warns against 'living wills' for firms

Sir David Howard, a former Lord Mayor of London and chairman of stockbrokers Charles Stanley, today called on the Government to exclude firms such as his from its plans to force banks to create "living wills" in case they go bust.

"We do not pose a systemic risk to either the market or the economy," said Howard.

"Yet the new legislation would mean that we had to do the kind of due diligence normally reserved for making acquisitions and appoint a director to spend 20% of his or her time ensuring it is up to date.

"It will cost us around £1 million year. We already provide the Financial Services Authority with detailed plans for an orderly winding-up of the business, so this looks like totally unnecessary duplication."

Charles Stanley's profits rose 10% to £13.7 million in the year to March. Shareholders get an 8% dividend boost with a total of 9.45p a share.

Howard said he was "rather more confident about the outlook than I have been for the last couple of years".

The firm's revenue climbed 13% to £115 million, with the amount from private clients rising 13.7% to £96.1 million. Funds under management and administration was £12.8 billion, compared with £9 billion last year.