Major changes to the regulation of the financial services industry are coming from a bewildering array of directions. CC's Simon Crown charts the challenge of working in perennial uncertainty

One thing that binds together the UK's financial services sector, those who regulate it and those who advise it, is uncertainty. As significant regulatory developments reach a crescendo, it is worth considering the consequences of that uncertainty.

The financial sector faces change from several sources, one of which is regulatory. In the past few weeks we have seen the surprising content of the Capital Requirements Directive III provisions on remuneration, doubt over the content and timing of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), the Financial Services Authority (FSA) proposing changes to UK client asset rules and proposed reforms to the UK's regulatory architecture.