Lloyds Banking Group fined £117m for PPI failings by the FCA June 5, 2015 Lloyds has been fined £117m over its handling of Payment Protection Insurance claims – the largest ever handed out by the FCA in relation to PPI. "Whilst our intentions were right, we made mistakes in our handling of some PPI complaints," admitted Lloyds chief Antonio Horta-Osorio. The taxpayer-owned bank was found to have failed in [...]
Eight men convicted over “very substantial” fraud after huge FCA investigation Operation Cotton June 1, 2015 Eight men have been convicted for their role in running a scam fund in which 110 investors lost more than £4.3m between them. The men operated three property investment companies through which investors were pressured into buying land “at a vastly inflated price, on the false promise of a substantial profit”. The salesmen lied [...]
FCA watchdog Martin Wheatley: I am not hunting for bankers’ scalps May 28, 2015 Top watchdog Martin Wheatley yesterday denied he wants to “put heads on sticks” or to go “scalp hunting” in his campaign to make banks and managers more accountable. In a firm defence of the plan to make bosses of failed banks prove they took reasonable steps to mitigate risks, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief [...]
Plevin v Paragon: FCA considers adopting new rules following landmark PPI case May 27, 2015 The FCA is considering whether to introduce new rules around PPI complaints following last year's ruling on the landmark Plevin v Paragon case. Last November the Supreme Court ruled that failing to disclose commission made the relationship between lender and borrower unfair in a case in which Mrs Plevin, a 59-year-old college lecturer, received [...]
FCA seeks record £75m fine from Keydata boss Stewart Ford over misselling claims, Ford to hit back with £650m high court claim May 26, 2015 The FCA is seeking record fines against three former managers of Keydata Investment Services, claiming the company missold complex products to consumers. The watchdog has fined former chief executive Stewart Ford £75m, former sales director Mark Owen £4m and former compliance officer Peter Johnson £200,000, and wants to ban them from working in regulated [...]
Choice, transparency and M&A: FCA outlines terms for investment banking probe May 22, 2015 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says it will focus on wide-ranging subjects when it launches a study into the investment and corporate banking market. In a statement today, the FCA said its investigation, which will build on a wholesale sector competition review published in February, will look at "choice, transparency, bundling and cross-subsidisation in debt [...]
Forex-rigging scandal: Barclays given largest fine in FCA history May 20, 2015 Barclays has been fined £284.4m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for failing to control business practices in its London foreign exchange operations. The bank's "inadequate and ineffective" control over its forex floor led to the biggest fine ever handed out by the FCA. Last year the bank opted out of a mass settlement in [...]
Three charged with insider dealing by FCA in Logica shares at time of CGI takeover April 29, 2015 Three men, including a former business analyst at IT management consultancy Logica, have been charged with insider dealing by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The UK's financial watchdog formally is charging former Logica employee Majeet Singh Mohal with passing on inside information in 2012 and two other men – Reshim Birk and Surinder Pal Singh Sappal [...]
Merrill Lynch International hit with record £13.2m fine as the FCA slams the “severity” of its misconduct April 22, 2015 Merrill Lynch International (MLI) has been fined £13.2m for failing to properly report a number of transactions between 2007 and 2014. This is the highest fine imposed by the FCA for this type of failing. The watchdog said the amount levelled at the firm “reflects the severity of MLI's misconduct, failure to adequately address [...]
Bloomberg down: The FCA is “monitoring the impact” of trading outage on City firms April 17, 2015 The Financial Conduct Authority is keeping a watchful eye on City firms to see if there is any fall-out from today's Bloomberg Professional outage. The trading terminal, which is used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world, went down on Friday morning (London time). The problem, which affected traders worldwide, effectively brought [...]