City watchdog to crack down on ‘buy now pay later’ firms February 1, 2021 The City watchdog is preparing to move in on so-called buy now pay later firms such as Klarna following a review of the unsecured credit market. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will this morning publish a report by interim chief executive Chris Woolard recommending that the sector be brought under the regulator’s remit, Sky News [...]
MPs accuse Financial Conduct Authority of being ‘unfit for purpose’ after British Steel pension debacle January 21, 2021 MPs accuse Financial Conduct Authority of being 'unfit for purpose' after British Steel pension debacle
FCA insists it protects consumers from investment harm despite criticism January 18, 2021 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) opened 1,500 supervisory cases involving scams or high risk investments in the first 10 months of 2020, in an effort to clamp down on consumer investment harm. The city regulator also stopped applications for authorisation from 343 financial services firms and individuals where the potential for consumer harm was identified [...]
Close to 4,000 UK financial firms ‘at risk of collapse’ after first Covid-19 lockdown January 7, 2021 The UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown threatened the viability of around 4,000 financial firms, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said this morning. The financial watchdog surveyed 23,000 smaller financial firms to greater understand the financial impacts of Covid-19 and found that 59 per cent of firms expected blows to their profits due to the pandemic. Others’ [...]
Data-hungry fintech firms urge FCA to ‘break’ banks this year January 2, 2021 A coalition of London startups is calling on the Financial Conduct Authority to end the dominance of banking institutions over the use of consumer data this year. The firms argue it would increase competition in the savings, credit, mortgages and pensions markets. The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), an advocacy group that represent a [...]
Charles Schwab UK fined £9m for failing to protect client assets December 21, 2020 The UK’s financial watchdog has fined investment firm Charles Schwab £9m for failing to adequately protect client assets and making a false statement to the regulator. Schwab’s breaches occurred between August 2017 and April 2019 when it moved client money from the UK arm to a US business. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today said [...]
FCA fines fall by half in 2020 as Covid takes hit on enforcement December 21, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority handed out £183.6m worth of fines this year, more than half the total bill in 2019. The number of fines has fallen too, from 21 to just ten. Lawyers believe the slowdown is due to the pandemic disrupting enforcement activities, not least the FCA’s ability to conduct witness and suspect interviews. [...]
FCA cancels £205,000 of bonuses after LCF scandal report December 17, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has cancelled £205,000 worth of executive bonuses after a damning report found the watchdog had failed to properly regulate a collapsed firm. But FCA employees implicated in the report are now facing calls to pay back bonuses for previous years after an investigation found “significant gaps and weaknesses” in the [...]
Barclays fined £26m for mistreatment of customers in arrears December 15, 2020 The UK’s financial watchdog has fined Barclays £26m for failures in its treatment of customers who fell into financial difficulties. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that Barclays had mistreated some retail and small business customers who fell into arrears between April 2014 and December 2018. Read more: Parlez-vous Français? Paris’ finance sector gets ready [...]
FCA: Financial services must reflect the diverse industry it serves November 26, 2020 Action needs to be taken quickly for financial services to become an industry that is representative of the diverse people it serves, according to city regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). “There is a growing consensus that healthy cultures are purposeful, diverse and inclusive… [and] a healthy culture is one where diversity is the fertile [...]