FIN.

Category - Enforcement & Litigation

New Complaints Commissioner for 2024

Rachel Kent has been appointed the new Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner. This is the first Commissioner appointment made by Treasury, as a result of changes in FSMA 2023.  She starts a 5 year appointment on...

FOS consults on plans and budget 2024/25

FOS is consulting on its proposed plans and budget for 2024/25. Questions include: what volume and trends should FOS be expecting in banking and consumer credit, insurance, investments and pensions, SME volumes, CMC...

OFSI defends licence refusal

The High Court has supported OFSI’s decision to refuse to grant licence requests relating to a Designated Person. Mikhail Fridman had filed the first claim under s38(2) of SAMLA (and also the first challenge to...

Lenders go into administration

FCA has confirmed that Morses Club Limited, a home collected credit lender, and its subsidiary Shelby Finance Limited (Dot Dot Loans – an online HCST lender) have gone into administration. It provided information...

FCA updates on Woodford Scheme

Link Fund Solutions is to convene a meeting of all affected investors on 13 December to vote on whether to approve the proposed settlement fund in relation to the LF Equity Income Fund. FCA has confirmed it believes the...

FOS releases half-yearly complaints data

FOS has published data showing the number and outcome of the complaints it has handled about financial businesses for the period of January to June 2023. The key take-aways are: FOS received a total of 93,114...

FCA updates complaints data

FCA has published updated complaints data based on returns from firms. Snapshots from the 2023 H1 data include: a slight increase in complaints from the previous 6 months (5%); most significant increases in the...

FCA updates on skilled persons reports

FCA has published the numbers of skilled persons reports commissioned in the first two quarters of 2023: From April to June it commissioned 11 reports, of which 4 related to retail investments and 3 to wholesale...

FCA censures LCF over fin proms

FCA has censured London Capital & Finance for issuing misleading financial promotions about minibonds to retail investors. The promotions made the minibonds look a more attractive investment than they were and...

Supreme Court rules on limitation in PPI case

In the case of Smith and another (Appellants) v Royal Bank of Scotland (Respondent) [2023] UKSC 34, the Supreme Court has ruled that the claims made by claimants seeking orders under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 were...

UK Finance respond to ban on cold calling

UK Finance has responded to HM Treasury’s proposals to ban cold calling in financial services and is supportive of the proposals. The measures aim to protect consumers, particularly elderly and vulnerable...

OFSI uses disclosure power for first time

OFSI has used its disclosure enforcement power for the first time to highlight a breach of the Russia (Sanctions) EU Exit Regulations 2019. This power allows OFSI to publish notices of breaches where it has decided not...

FCA cancels unused permissions

The FCA has used its power to cancel consumer credit permissions which were not used for 2 years. Mr Roche was authorised by the FCA in January 2015 and held consumer credit permissions of: agreeing to carry on a...

FCA publishes Q2 fin proms data

FCA has published its financial promotions data for Q2 2023, which showed that 1507 promotions were amended or withdrawn as a result of FCA intervention. As with the data for Q1, the majority of cases related to retail...

FOS blogs on consumer card protections

FOS has published a blog on how businesses can help consumers who have problems with goods and services. It has noticed that consumers aren’t always aware of the protections they have when paying for goods or...

Consumer Duty takes effect

The Consumer Duty has taken effect for all on-sale products. FCA has reminded consumers of the protections it gives them.
Read our summary of what FCA is expecting from firms.

Regulators publish revised Complaints Scheme

Following a joint consultation between FCA, PRA and BoE in July 2020, the regulators have set out final changes to be made to the Complaints Scheme. The revised Complaints Scheme and policy statement was initially due...

FCA bans pensions adviser

FCA has banned Paul Steel of Estate Matters Financial following its finding that he provided unsuitable advice to customers to transfer out of DB pension schemes, including the BSPS scheme. FCA has also brought High...

FOS warns on credit hire risks

FOS is warning that many consumers do not understand the risks of credit hire, which could leave them facing large bills. Credit hire is used as an alternative to claiming on motor insurance, and involves claims or...

FCA responds on Odey supervision

The Treasury Committee has published FCA’s response to its enquiry on the supervision of Odey Asset Management, following the media allegations of highly inappropriate behaviour by Cripin Odey (which he has...

Ombudsman News updates FOS initiatives

The latest edition of Ombudsman News highlights: what FOS is doing to prepare for the Consumer Duty; the annual complaints data from 2022/3; its items on hybrid scams and escape of water in unoccupied properties...

FSM Bill gets Royal Assent

As expected, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 got Royal Assent on 29 June.  Heralding it, Treasury described its key features as: bringing the ability to tailor financial services regulation to fit UK markets...

FOS warns of “hybrid” scam increase

FOS has noted that the number of complaints it receives about scams generally is increasing – with a 17% increase in APP fraud complaints, but also a higher proportion of “complex” scam complaints, for...

FSM Bill completes Parliamentary process

The FSM Bill returned to the Lords for consideration of the few amendments the Commons had made.  These were agreed, and so the Bill has completed its Parliamentary passage and now awaits Royal Assent. It is expected to...

BoE updates on CHAPS APP plans

The Deputy Governor of BoE has written to the Treasury sub-committee on Financial Regulation to update on progress on protection from APP fraud within the CHAPS system. The letter confirms the BoE’s intention to...

BoE speaks on enforcement approach

Oliver Dearie has spoken on the rationale behind the proposed changes to the way in which BoE is looking to change its approach to enforcement. He said the proposals reflect lessons learned over the past decade and...

Lords passes FSM Bill

The FSM Bill has had its third reading in the Lords, and has been passed and returned to the Commons as amended in the Lords.   The Commons now needs to consider the Lords’ amendments, and, if all is agreed, the...

FOS publishes annual complaint data stats

FOS has published the annual complaints data for the 2022/23 financial year and commented on the common themes. Of the most complained about products current accounts had a 40% uphold rate; credit cards 34%...

FSMB Lords Report stage day 2

Day 2 of the Report stage for the FSM Bill took place on 8 June. In the first session, the Lords debated clauses including those on: reporting requirements under the competitiveness and growth objective, a Government...

FCA urges “do the right thing”

Therese Chambers has spoken on the importance of people in the financial services sector doing the right thing on a day to day basis, and how well run firms will achieve better outcomes for their clients. She noted some...

FOS blogs on escape of water claims

A blog from FOS looks at the increase it has seen in queries from insurers about “escape of water” claims in unoccupied properties.  FOS notes that key points to check are: how the policy describes...

UK and EU publish draft MoU on FS cooperation

The UK and EU Commission have published their draft MoU on regulatory cooperation in financial services. The draft is still subject to the internal processes of the EU, but both parties intend to sign it shortly. The...

FCA publishes Q1 fin proms data

The Financial Promotions data from Q1 2023 shows that 2235 promotions were amended or withdrawn as a result of FCA intervention. Nearly half of these were identified by FCA’s own proactive monitoring and almost...

BoE consults on approach to enforcement

BoE has published a consultation paper on its approach to enforcement. In particular, it proposes making a number of amendments to existing documents, creating a consolidated set of statements of policy entitled...

FCA announces Woodford redress plans

FCA has announced that Link Fund Solutions has agreed a redress payment to investors in the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund of up to approximately £235m. The Link Administration Group will make a material contribution to...

FOS updates on wider implications framework

FOS has updated its website on how it works with other organisations to assess issues that can have a wider impact across the financial services industry.  The members are FOS, FCA, FSCS, The Pensions Regulator and MaPS...

Court considers time limits for PPI referrals

In the case of the Official Receiver and Shop Direct Finance Company Limited the Court of Appeal considered the time limit for referring complaints to FOS in respect of missold PPI, in particular where a person to whom...

FCA places restrictions on senior manager

FCA has imposed several conditions on Lisa Campbell as senior manager of Campbell & Associates Independent Financial Advice Limited. Mrs Campbell had failed to comply with restrictions FCA imposed on the firm in...

FOS publishes H2 2022 complaints data

FOS has published data on complaints received between July and December 2022.  It saw a slight increase in complaints over the first half of the year, and received nearly 80,000 new complaints. It upheld 34% of...

BBRS SME Liaison Panel closes

Antony Townsend has resigned as Chair of the BBRS SME Liaison Panel, saying it has been very difficult for him to make progress and he has been disappointed at some of the BBRS responses to the Panel’s concerns...

FOS updates award limits

FCA has confirmed new limits for FOS awards, effective from 1 April.  These are: £415,000 for complaints referred to FOS on or after 1 April 2023 about acts or omissions by firms on or after 1 April 2019; £190,000 for...

OFSI updates penalties guidance

OFSI has updated its guidance on assessing sanctions breaches to include how it assesses penalties where there has been an incorrect assessment of ownership and control of an entity. The additions to the guidance...

FCA calls for input on SME access to FOS

The FCA has launched a call for input to ascertain whether the thresholds for SMEs to be able to refer complaints to the FOS remain appropriate. The FCA’s policy objective is to provide access to the Ombudsman...

FCA takes further action on crypto ATMs

FCA has undertaken an exercise with the Metropolitan Police which has resulted in the discovery of several illegally operating crypto ATMs in East London. FCA is now working with the National Economic Crime Centre to...