The Financial Services Authority (FSA) says it is amending its regulatory guidance on financial crime, having considered the findings of its recent review into anti-bribery and corruption (ABC) systems and controls at investment banks. From August 2011, the regulator visited 15 firms (including eight major global investment banks) to examine how firms mitigate bribery and [...]
Two former directors of sub-prime lender, Cattles, and its subsidiary, Welcome Financial, have been censured by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for publishing misleading information to investors and acting without integrity in discharging their responsibilities. James Corr, Cattles’ former finance director, has been fined £400,000 and Peter Miller, Welcome’s former finance director, has been fined [...]
Coutts has been fined £8.75 million for failing to take reasonable care over its anti-money laundering controls. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) found that failings at the bank were serious, systemic and had persisted for almost three years. They came to light in October 2010 when the regulator visited Coutts as part of its review [...]
Hector Sants, the chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has announced that he intends to leave the organisation at the end of June this year. Sants has been the FSA’s CEO for the last five years and led the overhaul of the organisation’s approach to regulation following the financial crisis. He has also [...]
Financial Services Authority (FSA) chairman, Lord Turner, has been tackling the regulatory issues surrounding the “shadow banking” sector. In a speech to the CASS Business School, he described the sector as “covering multiple specific institutions and activities including securitised lending, hedge funds active in credit markets, investment bank trading of credit securities, the issuance of [...]
The Financial Services Authority has fined Nicholas Kyprios, head of European credit sales at Credit Suisse in London, £210,000. Mr Kyprios has been found guilty of improper market conduct, having disclosed client confidential information ahead of a significant bond issue, in November 2009. Credit Suisse acted on behalf of Liberty Global during its takeover of [...]
Britons are being warned to steer clear of pension offers that claim to be able to provide loans or release tax-free cash from people’s pension pots, before they reach age 55. The Pensions Regulator, Financial Services Authority (FSA) and HM Revenue and Customs are all aware of a rise in the number of “transferred funds” [...]
Santander has been fined £1.5 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to confirm under which circumstances its structured products would be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Customers began querying the extent of FSCS cover towards the end of 2008, but it was January 2010 before Santander clarified the position. [...]
The Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) interim managing director, Conduct Business Unit, Margaret Cole, is to step down later this year. Ms Cole joined the regulator in 2005 as director of enforcement. Managing a division of 450 people, she has responsibility for enforcement policy, intelligence gathering, forensic investigations, and civil and criminal proceedings, in areas that [...]
Ravi Shankar Sinha has been fined £2.867m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for fraudulently acquiring for himself £1.367m from a company owned by a private equity fund advised by JC Flowers. The fine consists of £1.5m punitive element and £1.367m disgorgement, and Sinha has been barred from performing any function in relation to any [...]
The Government has today published legislation aimed at strengthening financial regulation in the UK. According to Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, the Financial Services Bill sets out a “clear, coherent and comprehensive regulatory framework” that should help mitigate against future risks to stability. In brief the Bill: 1. Gives the Bank of England [...]
An EU-wide investigation of websites offering credit cards and other consumer credit has resulted in 70% (393) of sites examined being referred for further investigation. Checks took place to see whether consumers are receiving the right information under EU law before signing a consumer credit agreement. They focused in particular on the Consumer Credit Directive, [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is planning to make it obligatory for all banks, building societies and credit unions in the UK to prominently display how much compensation savers could claim in the event of an institution failing, and where from. The information will need to be displayed in every branch and on all websites. [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) and HM Treasury have announced that Northern Ireland’s credit union customers will have their deposits protected to the value of £85,000. The change comes into effect on 31st March 2012 when regulation of all the province’s 177 credit unions passes from the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise and Investment to [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined HSBC £10.5m, a retail fine record, following its subsidiary NHFA Limited (NHFA) giving elderly customers inappropriate investment advice. In addition to the fine an estimated £29.3m will be paid out in compensation to NHFA customers. From 2005 to 2010 2,485 customers invested in asset-backed products, and many of [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned that traded life policy investments (TLPIs) are high risk, toxic products that are generally unsuitable for the majority of UK retail investors and should therefore not be promoted to them. TLPIs are known as “death bonds” because investors are putting their money into a pooled investment or fund [...]
The European Parliament has voted into law regulation that will curb short-selling and trading in credit default swaps (CDS). Both short-selling and CDS trading have been blamed for fuelling market volatility, with CDS trades in particular linked to the troubles of Greece. The new rules therefore virtually ban certain CDS trades as follows: 1. Naked [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Coutts & Company £6.3m due to failings related to the sale of an AIG fund. In addition, Coutts has undertaken to carry out a past business review, which will be supervised by an independent third party and aim to give fitting compensation to all customers who lost out [...]
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