The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has reported a substantial increase in complaints related to fraud and scams, current accounts, and credit cards in Q2 2024/25with overall cases rising by more than 50% compared to the same period in the previous year. The FOS notes that it has published feedback on its intention to proceed with a charging regime for professional representatives, subject to the relevant Parliamentary and Financial Conduct Authority approvals being given.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has announced that fraud and scam complaints are at their highest ever quarterly level, with more than 8,700 such cases in just a three-month period. The FOS says the rise in cases is due to a number of factors including increasing numbers of multi-stage frauds which can see consumers put in multiple claims due to the number of firms involved; a growth in people inadvertently using their credit or debit cards to pay fraudsters; and more online fraud cases being brought by professional representatives.

The Financial Ombudsman Service for small businesses says it has received more than 4,800 new cases from businesses so far this financial year. Fraud and scams remain the most common issue raised by these businesses, with over 1,000 complaints received in this category so far this financial year. The FOS says this marks a significant rise compared to the same period last year, when around 600 fraud-related complaints were submitted.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has announced that its proactive settlement scheme, which gives financial businesses the opportunity to resolve a complaint early on in the FOS process, is to continue but with some changes applying to the process. From 24 June 2024, businesses must make an offer within 14 days from when the case moves to investigation (down from 21 days in the trial).

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is urging consumers to be wary of ‘ghost brokers’, who act as insurance intermediaries—particularly for car and house insurance—offering policies that either do not exist or are invalid, leaving their victims without proper coverage and potentially facing serious consequences. The FOS says with the increasing number of young people using social media to search for car insurance deals, the risks of being tricked by a fraudulent broker are becoming more acute.

Fission Product

CASE HUB ARCHIVED—this archived case hub reflects the position at the date of the judgment of 22 December 2020; it is no longer maintained. See further, timeline and commentary. Case facts Outline An appeal by FP McCann Limited against the fine imposed on it by Competition and Markets Authority’s decision of 23 October 2019 finding that three undertakings including FP McCann Limited had infringed the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 101 TFEU by participating in a cartel covering Great Britain in relation to the supply of certain pre-cast concrete drainage products. The CMA imposed a penalty of £25,449,676 on FP McCann Limited for its role in an agreement to fix or coordinate prices and market shares, and exchange information, for precast concrete drainage products. Latest development On 22 December 2020, the CAT issued its judgment in which it unanimously dismissed the FP McCann Limited’s appeal against the £25,449,676 fine imposed by the CMA. In particular, the CAT rejected FP McCann Limited’s arguments (amongst others) that: (i) the CMA’s Penalty Guidance

The policy-committee'>Financial Policy Committee which is part of the Bank of England and is responsible for contributing to the Bank's objective of protecting and enhancing the stability of the UK financial system and focuses on identifying, monitoring and managing systemic risk

The Bank of England (BoE) Financial Policy Committee has published its half-yearly Financial Stability Report for July 2023, in which it notes that it has maintained the UK Counter Cyclical Capital Buffer (CCyB) at 2%. The BoE has also announced the results of the 2022/23 stress test of the UK banking system, which the FPC says supports its conclusion as to UK financial stability. All banks remain above their CET1 capital and Tier 1 leverage ratio hurdle rates.

The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is consulting on proposed adjustments to the Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SII) buffer framework, aiming to index buffer thresholds to nominal GDP growth from 2019 to 2023. This adjustment aims to prevent undue tightening and support efficient capital allocation. If confirmed, the new thresholds will apply from January 2026. The FPC will review and update these thresholds regularly to align with GDP growth. Responses to the consultation are sought by 30 May 2025. The FPC and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) manage the O-SII buffer, a capital buffer for systemically important domestic firms. The FPC reviews the framework regularly, while the PRA sets buffer rates annually. The framework aims to ensure that large banks and building societies can absorb stress and continue to supply credit to the economy.

The Bank of England (BoE) has published a speech by Jonathan Hall, an external member of the Financial Policy Committee (FPC), in which he discussed how developments in artificial intelligence (AI) could affect financial stability, and said a new set of stress tests for UK financial services could be introduced to test the functioning of deep-learning models.

See Financial Promotion Order.