Watchdogs with City past wanted: FCA fines top £1.47bn as experience of executives called into question December 15, 2014 The City watchdog has issued over £1.47bn worth of fines to financial services firms so far this year, while issuing over 100 disciplinary measures such as bans. But, its critics say, it has done all this with an organisation that is lacking in commercial experience on its executive committee, its most senior board of full-time [...]
Blackrock’s Jonathan Burrows: The FCA has “more profound wrongdoing than mine” to investigate December 15, 2014 Former Blackrock managing director Jonathan Burrows – who was today banned from working in the regulated financial industry – has said the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has "more profound wrongdoing than mine" to deal with. Burrows was unmasked this summer as the serial train fare dodger whose actions cost him a £43,000 settlement and [...]
Fare-dodging former Blackrock managing director Jonathan Burrows banned by FCA December 15, 2014 Blackrock managing director and serial train fare-dodger Jonathan Burrows has been banned from performing “any function in relation to any regulated activities” by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The City watchdog said Burrows, who hit the news this summer when he was revealed as the executive who racked up £43,000 in unpaid train fares [...]
FCA tells annuity providers to “play their part” in helping consumers find the right retirement product December 11, 2014 The Financial Conduct Authority has told annuity providers to buck their ideas up after its review of the market found that competition was “not working as well as it could for consumers”. People are likely to miss out on better levels of income because they do not shop around enough, the report said, with [...]
FCA chiefs Martin Wheatley and David Lawton cling on despite damning Davis report on insurance market fiasco December 10, 2014 City watchdog Martin Wheatley came in for criticism yesterday as the £3.8m Davis report on the regulator’s handling of media briefings was released to the public. The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) chief executive will forgo his bonus for 2013-14 as a result of the findings, as will David Lawton, director of markets, Zitah McMillan, director [...]
Davis report into FCA insurance fiasco: Good intentions are not enough – Editor’s Letter December 10, 2014 John Griffith-Jones, the chairman of the FCA, said last night that the regulator’s botched briefing to one media organisation, which went disastrously wrong and resulted in causing mayhem on the stock market last March, was well-intended. It’s a view that is backed by Simon Davis, the Clifford Chance lawyer commissioned to write a highly detailed [...]
Davis report: Questions raised over Martin Wheatley’s leadership following FCA scandal December 10, 2014 Conservative MP Mark Garnier said yesterday that Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) boss Martin Wheatley faces questions over his fitness for the role. The former City fund manager, who now sits on the Treasury Select Committee, told City A.M.: “The question is whether the regulator’s priorities are badly distorted. It seems the regulator is confused about what [...]
The FCA’s reputation has been dealt a serious blow – change is needed December 10, 2014 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has had a tough week. The findings of the Davis report, an investigation into a botched, market-sensitive media briefing on the life insurance market, yesterday described the regulator’s reaction to the error as “seriously inadequate”, and “short of the standards expected of those it regulates”. The regulator spent a total [...]
FCA bosses give up their bonuses over insurance scandal December 10, 2014 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said today directors including Martin Wheatley, its chief executive, will give up their bonuses as a result of an investigation into a botched press briefing over insurance. The organisation said today that Wheatley, director of supervision Clive Adamson, director of communications and international Zitah McMillan and director of markets David [...]
Davis report: FCA chief Martin Wheatley in the firing line after publication of review into regulator’s newspaper leak December 9, 2014 Martin Wheatley, head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is expected to face questions over his future today after the publication of a report into the regulator’s leak of price sensitive information concerning life insurers. Wheatley, who famously said his strategy was to shoot first and ask questions later when it comes to regulating the [...]