We highlight some of the key regulatory decisions from 2012 and trends that are expected to continue into 2013. Increase in FSA regulatory fines The total amount of fines levied by the FSA in 2012 was £311,569,256, a marked increase from the total amount of £66,144,839 in the previous year.  The increase is perhaps not […]

The European Commission today released the draft of the 4th European Money Laundering Directive (4th Directive). Key changes proposed in the new directive are: the requirement for all law firms to have written risk assessments, policies and procedures as well as process for testing their effectiveness enhanced due diligence for politically exposed persons (PEPs) is […]

“The reality is that there are things that go wrong within firms, which the senior management will not know about, and that is a fact,” the Financial Services Authority’s head of enforcement told sceptical parliamentarians. Tracey McDermott was giving evidence again to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS), whose members yet again taxed her […]

  In November 2012 the FSA published a paper ‘Conflicts of Interest between asset managers and their customers’. This can be found at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/other/conflicts-of-interest.pdf Whilst this is geared towards investment managers and stockbrokers, it is actually a useful paper to read by the Financial Planner, helping to identify what questions they should ask a discretionary […]

Source: UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) 17 December 2012 Four executives including a former tax manager (UID 1916656), at a service provider of manpower to the oil and gas industry, have been charged with conspiracy to corrupt, by the UK SFO. The allegations of bribery stem from a two year investigation into the tax affairs […]

The European Commission is set to introduce a common definition of money laundering and a harmonised punishment for money laundering offences. The move, which is at a very early stage, is separate from the Commission’s proposals to revamp the Third Money Laundering Directive (3MLD).  A spokeswoman in Brussels confirmed that the Commission was working on […]

Final guidance aimed at stopping financial firms from running incentive schemes that encourage mis-selling was published by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 16 January 2013. A review on the issue, which was published by the FSA in September 2012, examined the use of sales incentives and applied to insurers, banks, building societies and investment […]

In a case brought by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Thomas Ammann, an investment banker and former FSA Approved Person, has today been sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to 2 years and 8 months imprisonment for two counts of insider dealing and two counts of encouraging insider dealing. But for an early guilty plea the […]