Financial watchdog to push savers to take more risk March 24, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is set to encourage retail investors to up their level of risk when managing their savings, as part of its mandate to support growth in the UK economy. The watchdog has drawn up the plans as part of a new five-year strategy that is set to launch later this week, [...]
The FCA must continue work on cutting card fees March 21, 2025 The Payment Systems Regulator was doing vital work on reducing unfair card fees that are hammering retail. Now the FCA must pick up where it left off, says Tom Ironside In their recently published report into scheme and processing card fees, the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) recently found that “increasing fees impacts on UK businesses’ [...]
FCA fines London Metal Exchange £9.2m over 2022 nickel volatility March 20, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority handed a landmark £9.2m fine to the London Metal Exchange after it failed to prevent extreme volatility in the nickel market in March 2022. In its first ever enforcement action against an investment exchange, the FCA criticised the exchange’s systems and controls that did not ensure “orderly trading under conditions of [...]
Motor finance: Lloyds and Close Brothers shareholders await landmark hearing March 19, 2025 The eyes of shareholders at Britain’s biggest lenders will be on April’s landmark motor finance hearing, as the scandal heads to the Supreme Court. The hearing, scheduled for April 1-3, will allow car loan providers to challenge the October 2024 Court of Appeal ruling that it was unlawful for banks to pay a commission to [...]
Crispin Odey banned from financial industry March 17, 2025 Former hedge fund manager Crispin Odey has been fined £1.8m and banned from working in the financial services industry by the Financial Conduct Authority. The financial watchdog cited Odey’s “lack of integrity” in their decision after he attempted to escape the allegations of sexual assault he faced at his firm. Odey “deliberately sought to frustrate” [...]
I’ll cut regulation and unleash the animal spirits of the private sector March 17, 2025 In an exclusive article for City AM, the Prime Minister says “it is an outrage that government does not know how much it costs business to comply with the regulations imposed on them” and declares that his “will be the first government to baseline these costs” – before slashing them. Last week, I set out [...]
City regulator considering scrapping £100 contactless limit March 14, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced on Friday it was looking for opinions on scrapping the contactless card limit and whether changes could benefit the UK economy. The current cap prohibits customers from making contactless card payments of more than £100 – however, the rule is set for review in a bid to boost growth. [...]
Founder of whisky investment firm Hackstons tied to notorious ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ wine scam March 13, 2025 A high-flying salesman who made millions during his time at a business that was subsequently exposed as a notorious wine scam is now running a West End whisky investment firm having changed his name, City AM can reveal. Alphie Valentine, 41, is the co-founder and director of Hackstons, whose flagship store opened in Knightsbridge in [...]
Payments watchdog bosses given hours to tell staff of FCA merger March 12, 2025 Payment Systems Regulator top brass did not know the watchdog was definitely being merged into the Financial Conduct Authority until just hours before it became public and used media leaks to prepare their response for the sweeping change, the regulator’s interim boss has said. Speaking at a Treasury Committee hearing less than 24 hours after [...]
Financial watchdogs ditch DEI regulation and ‘name and shame’ plans March 12, 2025 The UK’s two main financial watchdogs have ditched plans to impose diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) targets on City institutions amid a government push to put Britain’s regulators on a growth footing. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) announced on Wednesday that in light of the “broad range” of feedback and [...]