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Stockton-on-Tees advisers banned for lack of competence on pension transfers
Two advisers from Stockton-on-Tees have been fined and banned for giving poor advice when advising 97 per cent of their defined benefit pension clients to transfer out.
Online Published Date:
31 October 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
FCA secures two convictions over £1.5m crypto scam that fleeced 65 people
The regulator has brought successful prosecutions against two men from south London who were running a crypto investment scam.
Online Published Date:
07 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Birmingham broker who used premium funds for "expensive cars" fined £1.1m
The FCA has fined and banned the bankrupt owner of a Birmingham-based insurance broker, now in liquidation, for diverting funds for insurance premiums to buy expensive company cars and pay salaries even though he knew that these payments resulted in a "significant" shortfall in the business's assets.
Online Published Date:
11 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Metro fined £16m after warnings from junior staff were met with inaction
Metro Bank has received a £16.7 million penalty for anti-money laundering (AML) inadequacies resulting from the design of its reconciliation systems, as well as other IT issues.
Online Published Date:
12 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Coventry advisers banned for emptying bank accounts in breach of FCA requirements
The two partners in a Coventry firm advising the medical and dental sector have been banned and fined for taking money out of their partnership the day after the FCA imposed an asset requirement.
Online Published Date:
15 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
FCA moves to stabilise motor-finance complaints timeline, as consumer claims soar
The FCA is seeking to prevent "disorderly, inconsistent and inefficient outcomes for consumers and firms" by extending the deadlines for making and handling claims in the motor finance sector.
Online Published Date:
21 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Insurers ordered to cut administration delays on bereavement claims
Life insurers have been instructed to speed up their handling of bereavement cases after FCA research found poor outcomes in a market of 250,000 claims per year.
Online Published Date:
22 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Barclays fine cut 20% to £40m in last-minute settlement with FCA
Barclays Bank and the FCA have reached an eleventh-hour agreement over disciplinary proceedings, with a reduction of the proposed fine from £50 million to £40m; this means the bank will not proceed with an appeal to the Upper Tribunal against the regulator's findings on Barclays' 2008 Qatari fundraising deal.
Online Published Date:
25 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Junior trader hid losses in 420 fake trades to avoid disappointing supervisors
A "relatively junior trader" in the London branch of a bank was able to bypass four internal control systems for 20 months and hide over 420 fictitious trades - weaknesses that have now resulted in a £13 million fine for the firm and a ban on the individual.
Online Published Date:
26 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Regulators consult on loosening restrictions around bankers' pay
Fewer people are likely to be caught in the deferment rules on bankers' pay after regulators promised changes and a simplification in their operation.
Online Published Date:
26 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
FCA maps out route to crypto rulebook design by 2026
A crypto regulation regime could be unveiled by the FCA as soon as 2026 involving rules drawn up with input from the industry and in consultation with regulators abroad, including the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The possibility of setting up different systems for the institutional and retail sectors is an early frontrunner for the design.
Online Published Date:
26 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
MPs recommend "abolish or reform" among options to overhaul embattled FCA
The FCA has begun to fight back against damaging parliamentary criticism about numerous issues including the "failure" of its transformation programme, operations that are "incompetent at best, dishonest at worst" and its treatment of whistleblowers.
Online Published Date:
28 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
FCA softens proposals to publicise names of firms under investigation
Only a "very small number" of firms may be affected by FCA plans to disclose the identify of organisations under investigation, after the Enforcement unit backed down on proposals announced in February this year.
Online Published Date:
28 November 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
2024: what we expected - and what we got!
There's never a dull year in financial regulation and 2024 has proved no exception. Emma Radmore examines where we are ending the 12 months - whether some developments that we expected have occurred, what has taken us by surprise and what to look forward to in 2025.
Online Published Date:
03 December 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
FCA calls for help with complaint-handling and redress
With yet another mis-selling cleanup in process, this time in motor finance, the regulator has issued a Call for Input "to better identify and manage mass redress events to ensure better outcomes". The Financial Conduct Authority should take a hard look at its own role in these recurrences and avoid "regulation by lobby group" rather than expertise, warns Adam Samuel.
Online Published Date:
03 December 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
The international personal data transfer quagmire
Though we live in the digital age, companies face an ever-increasing regulatory burden when transferring personal data outside of the EU and UK - amid a complex web of differing jurisdictional approaches, compliance gaps and onerous expectations. Miriam Everett explores the legal challenges.
Online Published Date:
03 December 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Completing the jigsaw: Taskforce on Inequality and Social-related Financial Disclosures
Following international initiatives on climate-related financial disclosures as well as nature-related financial disclosures, a new coalition of companies, financial institutions, labour representatives and development organisations is working on a framework for inequality and social-related financial disclosures. Charlotte Witherington and Daniel Hirschfield review the launch paper of the TISFD, which sets out the taskforce's proposed scope, approach, governance structure and workplan.
Online Published Date:
03 December 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Compliance considerations in AI
Though the United Kingdom has no purely AI-focused regulatory framework, financial services firms should prepare themselves for heightened supervision over their deployment of artificial intelligence and ensure compliance with a multitude of diverse and broadly-focused requirements. Alexandra Green and Michael Sholem set out how to approach this task.
Online Published Date:
03 December 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024
Growing pains: Starling Bank's £29m penalty for sanctions chaos
Starling, a digital challenger bank, expanded far quicker than its capacity to maintain compliance with sanctions screening as well as other financial crime control requirements. As a result, the regulator has clipped its wings by imposing substantial remediation measures, reports Denis O'Connor.
Online Published Date:
03 December 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 37 No 4 - 01 December 2024