Britain’s financial regulator is slapping down City bankers

REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

• FCA bans 28% more directors in 12 months from September
  2017 to 2018
• “The FCA will be looking to send a message out that it is not
  turning a blind eye to poor conduct” says law firm RPC.
• The FCA spent a total of £300,000 in legal fees to
  pursue a case banning one director

The Financial Conduct Authority has banned 23 so-called “bad
apples” from working in the industry in the past 12 months.

That’s according to figures from London law firm RPC, which
said in a report today that the 28% increase in “prohibition
orders” is part of a wider crackdown as part of its aim to deter
future misconduct.

“Being banned from the financial services industry is a life
changing event – the FCA knows this,” Jonathan Cary, partner at
RPC, said in the report. “The FCA will be looking to send a
message out that it is not turning a blind eye to poor conduct.”

In one case lasting more than three years, the FCA said that it
spent 4,777 hours and £300,000  ($385,912) in legal
fees to ban just one director.  

RPC says that bans are likely to increase, especially now that
the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, or SMCR  
– a 2016 set of standards that holds senior managers to
higher standards of personal accountability – has been extended
to all financial services firms, not just banks.

By the end of 2019, senior staff at 47,000 financial services
firms in the UK will be covered by the SMCR. 

It’s another blow for London’s battered financial services
industry, which the UK government says represents about 6.5% of
the nation’s economy.