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On 29 March 2023, the ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô Financial Services Practical Guidance team hosted a webinar on financial services enforcement trends in 2023 and beyond. An expert panel of senior contentious regulatory lawyers discussed the latest trends in Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) investigations and enforcement. Sara Cody (Counsel, Linklaters LLP), Robert Dedman (Partner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP), Sara George (Partner, Sidley Austin LLP) and Guy Wilkes (Partner, Mishcon de Reya LLP) addressed key themes in enforcement in addition to considering the implications of the FCA’s evolving approach to enforcement and discipline, for financial services firms and the individuals within them. Key highlights from the webinar are noted below:

The direction of travel for FCA enforcement

The panel shared insights on the tenure of the outgoing Executive Director of FCA Enforcement and Market Oversight (EMO), Mark Steward, and the likely future direction of travel under his replacements, Therese Chambers and Steve Smart, as joint executive directors.  The panel agreed that Chambers’ considerable experience in FCA enforcement will be especially valuable at a time when there is a significant number of open investigations along with other issues within FCA enforcement processes, which are proving challenging for practitioners.  Chambers’ most recent experience in retail investments, against a backdrop of the cost of living crisis and the implementation of the Consumer Duty, may also indicate future enforcement focus.  The panel considered that Smart’s appointment, following his position as Director of Intelligence at the National Crime Agency (NCA), was indicative of the FCA’s focus on financial crime, particularly noting the role intelligence may play, given Smart is a data specialist.

Financial crime focus continues but new angles emerge

In relation to the FCA’s continued focus on financial crime systems and controls, the panel addressed what new enforcement angles firms should consider, including:

• the significance of Steve Smart’s appointment as co-director of EMO
• the leading role that the FCA plays in sanctions enforcement and the resulting FCA scrutiny this brings to firms’ sanctions compliance and anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing (AML/CTF) systems and controls, particularly against a rapidly developing geo-political backdrop
• a future focus of AML/CTF enforcement on payment firms, including fintech firms that may lack a strong regulatory culture; this focus may result in an increase in actions against individuals, as payment and cryptoasset firms are likely to have compliance functions which are less resourced than those in the large financial institutions that have traditionally been targeted for financial crime failings
• the PRA’s increasing interest in financial crime systems and controls from a financial stability perspective

The challenges around assertive supervision

The panel went on to examine the FCA’s greater use of supervisory powers and the implications for firms, including around their supervisory relationship with the FCA and the speed at which FCA supervision can become assertive.  The panel outlined actions firms can take to mitigate these risks but noted that challenges remain for firms and individuals around the lack of comparative procedural safeguards.  Discussion turned to whether this may result in a greater number of Upper Tribunal cases which, in turn, might provide helpful jurisprudence and precedents that practitioners can rely on.

Consumer protection is at the forefront of FCA discipline and enforcement

The panel also noted a strong shift in the FCA’s disciplinary focus to consumer redress programmes, implemented at speed, by using assertive supervisory tools. This development is likely to accelerate with the FCA’s new Consumer Duty, which will require firms to be proactive in offering redress.  The potential use of assertive supervisory powers to tackle consumer harm, and the open-texted nature of many of the Consumer Duty rules, may well result in both supervisory action in the short term but also a greater scope for enforcement actions in the longer term. The panel noted the importance of firms approaching Consumer Duty implementation in a manner which ensures they can withstand the future enforcement risk that comes with it.

The panel’s discussion and the Q&A that followed also considered, among a number of other themes, the efficacy of the senior managers and certification regime (SM&CR) in light of the Edinburgh Reforms, non-financial misconduct, greenwashing, operational resilience and predictions around the PRA’s enforcement focus.

The ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô Financial Services Enforcement Database

The webinar marked the launch of the enhanced ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô Financial Services Enforcement Database, which contains detailed information on hundreds of Decision and Final Notices issued by the FCA, the PRA and the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). Users can conduct targeted searches across the database and filter results by multiple criteria such as rule breach. Research tasks that would normally take hours or days can be completed in minutes, saving lawyers time and money, and freeing them up to focus on other tasks. 

For more information about the ³ÉÈËÓ°Òô Financial Services Enforcement Database, visit 

You can now access a recording of the event .