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 [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has drawn up further guidance for firms developing new structured products for the retail market. The regulator has assessed seven major providers of structured products and found that weaknesses remain in the way firms are designing and approving their offerings. Put plainly, providers are tending to focus on their own [...]
The Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) Product Intervention role has come to pass as it issues guidance on the design of a specific product for the very first time. The regulator has drawn up proposed new guidance on payment protection insurance (PPI) products jointly with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The watchdogs are monitoring the [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has set out proposals aimed at ensuring that holders of packaged bank and building society accounts are actually eligible to claim on insurance cover included in the package. Packaged accounts include a range of benefits, from insurance to ticket discounts, and the FSA estimates that one in five UK adults [...]
Credit Suisse UK has been fined £5.95 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) regarding sales by its private bank of structured capital at risk products (SCARPs), which can result in investors seeing all their initial capital wiped out. According to the regulator, between January 2007 and December 2009 Credit Suisse UK customers invested over [...]
Firms making even minor breaches of Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules could become liable to pay 100% redress to customers who suffer financial losses on an investment decision, whether or not the rulebook glitch resulted in faulty advice. The warning comes from Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC), which claims that the FSA wants changes to the [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is reported to be muscling in on boardroom meetings at firms that could pose a major risk to financial stability in the UK. According to a report in yesterday’s Guardian, big banks and other high-risk enterprises are being asked to allow the regulator’s representatives to attend board meetings, sub-committee meetings [...]
The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) has told UK banks to raise long-term funding “whenever possible”. The Committee held its second formal meeting last week, at which members noted “severe strains in financial markets” caused by debt problems in the euro area. For banks, “perceived vulnerabilities” have increased and with UK lenders unlikely [...]
The proposed merger between Norwich & Peterborough Building Society and Yorkshire Building Society has been given the regulatory green light by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), it has been announced. In August this year the merger received the overwhelming support of Norwich & Peterborough members. The newly merged financial entity will operate from 224 branches [...]
Banks are reminded that they must be able to justify their relationships with Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) in a new study from KPMG. In is 2011 global anti-money laundering (AML) report, the accountancy firm concludes that board level interest in AML is being squeezed as companies focus on survival and regulatory change. More firms are [...]
