FCA amps up crackdown on coronavirus-related fraud October 6, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ramped up efforts to crack down on coronavirus-related fraud during the pandemic through the rollout of two new sandbox services. Sandboxes allow companies to innovate new products without being subject to usual regulation, allowing them to test financial services before developing them globally. The FCA’s two new sandboxes, launched [...]
City watchdog secures £1.6m order against money laundering fugitive October 5, 2020 A fugitive businessman convicted of money laundering in one of the UK’s largest ever insider trading case should return £1.6m or have eight years added to his prison sentence, a London court ruled today. Luxury watch dealer Richard Baldwin was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison after being convicted of money laundering [...]
Finance watchdog slams Google for not removing scam adverts September 25, 2020 The UK’s financial regulator has accused Google of failing to address the use of its search engine by fraudsters placing scam adverts. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday said steps taken by Google to crack down on fake investment adverts “fall short” of requirements, and contribute to “a production line that proliferates scams”. Speaking at [...]
City watchdog blasts UK banks over money laundering safeguards September 24, 2020 Not all British banks are convinced of the need to invest large sums to crack down on dirty money, meaning the quality of anti-money laundering controls is falling short, the City watchdog’s chief enforcer said. Global lenders, including UK-based HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered, have come under increased scrutiny for their anti-money laundering (AML) efforts [...]
Will the FCA’s new plan mean cannabis companies can come in from the cold? September 24, 2020 How does the UK’s legal and financial establishment feel about the cannabis industry? The answer to that has changed significantly over the last few years, to the point that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) now contemplates their listing on the London Stock Exchange. But the legal rules around how to do that are far from [...]
The lacklustre FCA is in desperate need of regulatory oversight September 18, 2020 It is unlikely that Juvenal, the first century Roman poet, had the Financial Conduct Authority in mind when he famously asked: “Who guards the guards?” A slew of depressingly similar scandals have, however, brought the question of regulatory oversight into sharp relief. Indeed, such has been the extent of the FCA’s negligence and downright incompetence [...]
FCA to extend coronavirus relief for car finance and high-cost credit July 3, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed extending coronavirus relief measures for consumers with car financing products or high-cost credit until the end of October. The watchdog this morning set out options for supporting consumers with motor finance or high-cost credit products, such as buy now pay later, rent-to-own or pawnbroking. The FCA first introduced [...]
FCA extends credit card payment freeze until October July 1, 2020 A credit card payments freeze could be extended for another three months for customers still suffering from the economic impact of coronavirus, the financial watchdog said today. After imposing a three-month pause on repayments for those struggling amid the fallout of the pandemic on the economy, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said firms must [...]
FCA puts UK banks on notice on overdrafts but will not open formal inquiry July 1, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will not open a formal inquiry into overdraft charges by UK banks, but said there would be a full evaluation of lenders’ pricing next year. In January, the financial watchdog gave banks just two weeks to explain changes to their overdraft rates which would leave around eight million consumers worse [...]
Bank of England tells lenders to push ahead with climate risk analysis June 29, 2020 The Bank of England and UK financial regulator today told banks and insurers to press ahead with analysing the impact of climate change on their operations. The Climate Financial Risk Forum (CFRF) — established by the BoE and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last year — published a guide setting out how financial firms can analyse [...]