i-law

Compliance Monitor

Enforcement transparency - jurisdictional comparisons

The Financial Conduct Authority's ongoing consultation about more frequent publication of the names of firms under investigation has sparked fierce pushback from the industry as well as a scathing report from the House of Lords Financial Regulation Committee. Abdulali Jiwaji and colleagues in Frankfurt and Paris (Dr Jan Kraayvanger and Jérémie Fierville) give perspectives on the issue.
Online Published Date:  05 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

FCA doubles action against rise in noncompliant financial promotions

The number of financial promotions withdrawn or amended after FCA intervention doubled to nearly 20,000 in 2024 - a year that saw "a growing number of misleading and illegal" advertisements, according to the regulator.
Online Published Date:  07 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

London trader evades US extradition in "watershed" Supreme Court ruling

The Supreme Court has blocked the extradition of a London-based trader to the United States through a decision that turned on the location of where the "acts specified in the extradition request were physically done", and - if they were held to take place in the United Kingdom - whether they would constitute an offence here.
Online Published Date:  12 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Hampshire adviser charged for alleged £2.3m theft from clients, family and friends

A 55-year-old financial adviser from Hampshire is to appear before Portsmouth Magistrates Court on 17 April, charged by the FCA with multiple fraud offences in relation to the alleged theft from clients, family, friends and a vulnerable child of more than £2.3 million.
Online Published Date:  13 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Broker fined £1.6m as FCA concludes cum-ex enforcement investigations

A City of London-based interdealer broker has been penalised £1.6m for breaches relating to cum-ex trading. The firm carried out suspicious transactions in Danish and Belgian equities with a value of £92 billion for 242 new clients that were onboarded without adhering to the firm's Compliance Manual, and the manual itself had not been updated to match the new business the firm was acquiring.
Online Published Date:  18 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

FCA proceeds with year-old-email deletion scheme despite staff concerns

The FCA will begin automatically deleting one-year-old staff emails from 1 April 2026 even though apprehensions were raised by employees in the media. The move will only apply to emails received from this April by the regulator's 5,000 employees.
Online Published Date:  19 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Four banks fined over chatroom exchanges - Deutsche escapes for alerting CMA

Deutsche Bank has been granted immunity from an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority that has seen four others fined over £100 million. Royal Bank of Canada, Citi, HSBC and Morgan Stanley have until April to pay their fines - which resulted from a probe into illegal sharing of price-sensitive information on trading in gilts and gilt asset swaps after quantitative easing began during the global financial crisis.
Online Published Date:  21 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Advisers instructed to review ongoing advice systems despite 98% compliance rate

Financial advisers have been directed by the FCA to review their client files to ensure that they are providing, or at least offering, ongoing advice as required under the Consumer Duty. Where this is not happening, "it is likely redress will be due", the regulator has said following a review of 22 of the largest firms.
Online Published Date:  26 February 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Regulatory creep: critical third parties in scope

On top of the operational resilience rules for financial institutions that are about to go live, the regulators have introduced a new regime for external service providers that are relied on for essential functioning of the sector. Emma Radmore and Sheilah Mackie examine what's now in place and what may be yet to come.
Online Published Date:  01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

'Threading a fine needle' between AI benefits and risks

While both financial services firms and regulators can gain considerable efficiencies from artificial intelligence, there are serious questions around accountability for the technology's decision-making, how to maintain oversight as it self-evolves, along with systemic risks. Claude Brown explores the issues.
Online Published Date:  01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Ins and outs of ICOBS

Though it collates a crucial body of rules that affect all of our lives, this meandering and neglected tome is greatly in need of revision. Adam Samuel guides a tour through the Insurance Conduct of Business Sourcebook.
Online Published Date:  01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Preparation is key: CASS 15 for payments and e-money firms

With recent insolvencies revealing a 65 per cent shortfall in customer funds being protected, Oliver Hawes summarises new safeguarding rules for the payments sector and suggests how management teams can prepare for the changes.
Online Published Date:  01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Flawed oversight let trader mask losses with fake transactions

Day-to-day reporting, reconciliation and verification processes at Macquarie Bank in London had deficiencies that allowed an employee to record and amend 426 fictitious trades over a 20-month period. Denis O'Connor analyses what went wrong.
Online Published Date:  01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

Risky business: FCA combats the rise of finfluencers

There is a worrying disparity between the level of trust placed by younger adults in social media influencers and the often detrimental outcomes of their advice on financial matters. Richard Coopey discusses the problem and a clampdown from the regulator.
Online Published Date:  01 March 2025
Appeared in issue:  Vol 37 No 6 - 01 March 2025

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