The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Ltd  (Volkswagon Finance) £5,397,600 for failing to treat its customers in financial difficulty fairly, breaching Principles 3, 6 and 7 of the FCA’s Principles for Businesses in addition to provisions of the Consumer Credit sourcebook (CONC)  and Complaints sourcebook (DISP). Volkswagen Finance, one of the UK’s largest motor finance providers, would have been fined £7,710,885.73, but reached a Stage 1 settlement with the FCA and so qualified for a 30% discount. Volkswagon Finance has agreed to pay over £21.5m in redress to approximately 110,000 customers who may have suffered harm due to its failings.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Jean-Noel Alba, former deputy CEO of H2O AM LLP, £1.05m and banned him from financial services for deliberately misleading the regulator. Between August 2019 and July 2021, Alba provided false statements and backdated documents regarding H2O's due diligence on investments in Tennor Group companies. The misconduct included directing junior staff to create minutes for meetings that never occurred and presenting retrospectively created due diligence reports as contemporaneous documents. The case relates to H2O's €1.64bn investments made between 2015-2019.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed a financial penalty of £120,300 and a prohibition on James Lewis, the former CEO of Shard Capital Partners, following two separate instances of providing incorrect information about clients’ cash purportedly held by Shard. The FCA concluded that in 2015/2016, Lewis breached APER 2 by failing to carry out his accountable functions with due skill and care and in 2021 Lewis beached COCON 1 by failing to act with integrity.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Neil Sedgwick Dwane £100,281 and banned him from working in UK financial services for insider dealing. In 2022, while working as an adviser to ITM Power Plc, Dwane used inside information about a forthcoming market announcement to sell 125,000 shares worth £124,287 the day before the announcement. He later repurchased 180,000 shares worth £140,700 after the share price fell by approximately 37%, making a profit of £26,575 from the price difference. Dwane also failed to obtain ITM's required permission before dealing in its shares. The FCA stated that the penalty reflects a 30% discount under its Stage 1 settlement procedures; without the discount, the fine would have been £126,575 plus interest on the £26,575 profit obtained.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed a £1,102,879 fine on Leigh Mackey, the sole controller of Inspire Insurance Services Ltd, and banned him from working in financial services for misusing funds due to insurers and misleading the regulator. The FCA found Mackey to lack honesty and integrity, posing a risk to consumers and the UK financial system's integrity. The FCA issued a prohibition order under section 56 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FISMA 2000), preventing Mackey from performing any regulated activities.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined a former director of London Capital & Finance plc (LCF) £31,800 and banned him from working in financial services. Floris Jakobus Huisamen was responsible for compliance at LCF but the FCA found that he recklessly signed off hundreds of financial promotions, which contributed to thousands of investors being misled.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned Martin Sarl from working in the financial services industry and fined him £5,021 for acting without honesty and integrity. The FCA found that between 7 November 2017 and 24 October 2019 Sarl, who was the sole director at the insurance intermediary, Perry Prowse (Insurance Consultants) Ltd, failed to pass clients’ premiums to insurers, meaning that some customers were left uninsured without their knowledge.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned and fined three individuals who were involved in running SVS Securities Plc (SVS), a discretionary fund manager, for mistreatment of pension funds. The FCA found that the three acted recklessly in deciding to mark-down customers’ valuations when they disinvested from fixed income assets, with the result that SVS kept 10% of customer funds. This allowed them to generate £359,800 in income for SVS at the expense of its customers.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published decisions against a director and a financial adviser for pension transfer advice failings. The FCA has decided to ban Mr Richard Fenech and Ms Heather Dunne from working in financial services and fine them £270,646 and £399,817 respectively. The FCA found that the pair operated a flawed advice model that put customers’ guaranteed pension benefits at significant risk, and that Ms Dunne failed to act with due skill, care and diligence when providing pension transfer advice.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided to ban Stephen Joseph Burdett and James Paul Goodchild from working in regulated financial services for ‘recklessly exposing pension holders to unsuitable investments’. The FCA has also fined them £311,762 and £47,600 respectively. Both individuals have referred the Decision Notices to the Upper Tribunal. Any findings in the Decision Notices are therefore provisional and reflect the FCA’s belief as to what occurred and how it considers their behaviour should be characterised. However, as is noted on Burdett’s Decision Notice, there are certain allegations and findings that are no longer being pursued by the FCA before the Tribunal.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed fines and prohibition orders on Craig Buchan and Martin Cooke, former partners of MedDen Financial Services LLP, for recklessly breaching an asset requirement.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined asset manager GAM International Management Limited (GIML) £9,103,523 for failing to conduct its business with due care and attention and failing to adequately manage conflicts of interest. The FCA has also fined Timothy Haywood, a former investment director and business unit head at GIML, £230,037.