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Shard CEO fined and banned for misleading a client's auditors and accountants
The founder and former CEO of a City-based firm of asset managers has been banned and fined £120,300 by the FCA after the provision of incorrect information to auditors of a corporate client.
Online Published Date:
08 May 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
Trio charged with fraud after victims' pension funds squandered on high-risk CFDs
The FCA has charged two men and a woman with fraud amidallegationsof false statements that individuals whose retirement savings were placed in high-risk contract for difference (CFD) schemes qualified as professional investors; many victims saw their "pension funds almost entirely lost".
Online Published Date:
15 May 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
Reality TV stars among finfluencers charged for promoting unauthorised FX scheme
Nine 'finfluencers' - including former participants ofLove IslandandCelebrity Big Brother- have been charged by the FCA in relation to the social media promotion of an unauthorised foreign exchange trading scheme for which they could receive a fine and/or up to two years' imprisonment. They are due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on 13 June.
Online Published Date:
16 May 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
Citigroup fined £62m after Compliance "repeatedly" raised control weaknesses
The international broker-dealer wing of Citigroup has been fined £61.6 million - after cooperation discounts of 30 per cent - for failures in its systems and controls that were demonstrated over 14 minutes of trading on Bank Holiday Monday in May 2022.
Online Published Date:
22 May 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
Compliance team actions led to 50% cut in HSBC's TCF fine
A £6.3 million fine levied on HSBC was halved from £12.6m after compliance officers found poor practice across the lending product range and reported it "promptly" to the FCA.
Online Published Date:
23 May 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
FCA backs down on evidence as two disciplinary claims referred to Tribunal
Disciplinary decisions by the regulator to fine and ban two individuals in the pensions investments sector have been delayed 21 months by discussions over the evidence, and have been referred by the men involved to the Upper Tribunal.
Online Published Date:
24 May 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
GAP market reboots as four providers accept lower commission rates
The first four firms have re-entered the GAP (Guaranteed Asset Protection) market after two months in which this whole sector of motor insurance was put on pause by the FCA for not providing fair value.
Online Published Date:
27 May 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
The future of fund tokenisation
Asset management representatives have been exploring the commercial use of fund tokenisation - ie, issuing units recorded on a distributed ledger instead of more traditional systems of record-keeping. Charlotte Hill and Shaanil Senarath-Dassanayake discuss fund tokenisation, the UK Technology Working Group's Blueprint and Phase Two Report, as well as next steps for the asset management industry.
Online Published Date:
01 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
The case for enforcement 'transparency'
A year after they were appointed, the FCA's new co-heads of Enforcement are involved in a battle of strength with the 45,000 regulated firms. Encouraged by their lawyers, the firms are now challenging the unit's plan to publicise the names of organisations that it investigates. What are the underlying issues? How is the system likely to work in practice? And which side will hold sway? Neasa MacErlean reports.
Online Published Date:
01 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
Retail financial products - the 'other' portfolio letters
Further to our coverage of the portfolio letters on investment topics, we take a deep-dive into the FCA's thoughts on insurance, mortgages, consumer credit and finance, deposits, payment services and crowdfunding. The challenge for the industry and regulator is to ensure that people on the ground stop and actually read these documents, opines Adam Samuel.
Online Published Date:
01 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
What do impending Listing Regime reforms mean for listed companies?
Touted as the most wide-ranging reforms to the UK capital markets in over three decades, the regulator aims to simplify the listing process and "encourage a more diverse range of companies to list and grow". James Wootton and Tom Thorne unpack the changes.
Online Published Date:
01 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
OFAC action against EFG sends warning to UK firms
The Swiss private banking group was tripped up when omnibus accounts it held in the United States caused securities firms there unwittingly to process transactions for sanctioned Cuban and Russian customers. United Kingdom entities that retain omnibus accounts with American institutions run the same risks of breaching US sanctions legislation, cautions Denis O'Connor.
Online Published Date:
01 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024
Smart ways behavioural science can support compliance culture
While policy and procedure documents may abound, a nuanced people strategy that helps ensure desired behaviours are happening in practice is often lacking. Priya Giulianiand Katherine Odendaal share how insights from economics, psychology, sociology and neurology are able to assist an organisation's compliance goals.
Online Published Date:
01 June 2024
Appeared in issue:
Vol 36 No 9 - 08 May 2024