Speech by Mark Francis, interim director of wholesale markets sell-side, at UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce industry event. T+1 settlement: improving market efficiencyWe are fully supportive of the UK moving to a T+1 settlement cycle for securities trades. Our letter to the Prime Minister on supporting growth highlighted that 'accelerating adoption of securities settlement in 1 […]

The FCA has secured a confiscation order of £586,711.01 against Mohammed Zina, a convicted insider dealer. The order must be paid within 3 months, or Mr Zina will face a further 5 years in prison. The confiscation order amounts to all of Mr Zina’s available assets.Therese Chambers, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and […]

Next steps for open banking will include a new independent company to drive forward variable recurring payments. Open banking is a UK success story with over 11.7 million active users and over 22.1 million open banking payments made monthly.There was significant progress in developing open banking in 2024, thanks to voluntary funding from 20 leading […]

We welcome a positive outcome for investors, following our High Court proceedings over collective investment schemes. We brought a High Court claim against Lupton Fawcett LLP in respect of work undertaken for the Qualia Group of companies by a former member of the firm in and around 2016. In our claim, we alleged that Lupton […]

Speech by Emily Shepperd, chief operating officer,at the 2025 Risk Leader Summit, hosted by the Professional Risk Managers International Association (PRMIA).

The FCA and Practitioner Panel survey is being sent to all regulated firms so they can share their feedback on how the FCA regulates the industry. The survey is carried out on our behalf by Verian (formerly known as Kantar Public), an independent social research organisation.For the first time, the survey will be sent out […]

On 30 January 2025, CFSL (also known as Solaris EMI) entered special administration. Joshua James Dwyer and Robert Spence of Interpath Limited have been appointed as Joint Special Administrators. The Court decided to place CFSL into special administration on application by its directors. Joshua James Dwyer and Robert Spence of Interpath Limited were appointed as […]

The FCA has set out proposals to make it easier for listed companies to issue corporate bonds that wealth managers and retail investors can buy. The FCA is consulting on a single standard for corporate bond prospectuses, covering both large and small (less than £100,000) bond sizes. This would reduce costs and barriers for companies […]

The FCA has secured a confiscation order of £5,963,376.15, against convicted fraudster Guy Flintham. Mr Flintham is serving a 6-year prison sentence having pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation. The fraudulent investment scheme operated by Mr Flintham took £19m from over 240 investors.He made several fraudulent claims to investors, including about how the scheme […]

Speech by Emily Shepperd, chief operating officer, at the 10th Annual Culture and Conduct in Financial Services Summit.

The FCA hit the news last week amidst criticism about our plans to delete emails held in staff inboxes after a year. As director of intelligence and digital at the FCA, I want to explain what we're doing and why. First, what we're not doing. We're not deleting evidence. We’re not hiding information. We’re not […]

The FCA has today written to people who complained about the way the FCA handled the Blackmore Bonds case. Blackmore Bond PLC (Blackmore) was an unregulated firm that raised funds by issuing mini-bonds. Two regulated firms, NCM Fund Services (NCM) and Northern Provident Investments (NPI), approved the financial promotions for the mini-bonds.The FCA conducted thorough […]

Nearly 20,000 financial promotions were withdrawn or amended in 2024 following intervention from the FCA — nearly double the amount in 2023. The regulator has highlighted concerns with cryptoasset, debt solutions, and claims management company (CMC) promotions. 9,197 CMC promotions were withdrawn in 2024. Many of these promotions were related to housing disrepair and motor […]

The FCA has charged Mrs Lisa Campbell with multiple criminal offences, including fraud by abuse of position and providing false or misleading information to the FCA to conceal her wrongdoing. Mrs Campbell was the sole director of Campbell & Associates Independent Financial Advice Ltd (Campbell & Associates), an FCA authorised financial advisory firm which operated […]

The FCA has announced the winners of its research competition, which aims to increase understanding of how regulation can support economic growth. Six projects have been selected and awarded funding of up to £30,000 each.The competition, launched in November 2024, attracted 43 entries from 41 organisations, including academics, think tanks and consultancies.Kate Collyer, the FCA’s […]

On 10 February 2025, Nvayo Limited (Nvayo) entered special administration. Dane O’Hara, Alex Cadwallader and Andrew Poxon, all of Leonard Curtis (UK) Limited, were appointed as administrators. Nvayo is authorised by the FCA to issue electronic money (e-money) and provide payment services.Nvayo issued e-money in multiple currencies via e-wallets and pre-paid cards (Aurae Lifestyle and […]

The FCA has fined Mako Financial Markets Partnership LLP (Mako) £1,662,700 for failing to ensure it had effective systems and controls to guard against financial crime. Mako also failed to adequately apply the policies and procedures it did have in place.This eighth enforcement case brought by the FCA, concludes its investigations into cum-ex trading. Working […]

The Accelerated Settlement Taskforce report provides a set of recommendations for the UK to move to a T+1 settlement cycle by 11 October 2027. On 6 February 2025, the Accelerated Settlement Taskforce published its final report recommending a detailed implementation plan for the UK to move to a T+1 standard for settling securities trades.We have […]

A joint feedback statement from the FCA and PSR assesses the usage and impact of digital wallets. The use of digital wallets has rapidly grown in recent years with the proportion of card transactions using a digital wallet increasing significantly from 8% in 2019 to 29% in 2023.Given the growth, the FCA and PSR engaged […]

The FCA has taken action to protect consumers by stopping Arthur Temlett, trading as Abacus Insurance Consultants, from carrying out any regulated activities, including acting as an insurance broker. The FCA is concerned that Abacus Insurance, which was based in Dumfries and Galloway, may have been selling home/motor insurance and not passing premium payments on […]