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FCA proposes ways to make financial advice more accessible

As part of its consumer investment strategy, the FCA has set out new proposals to improve people’s access to financial advice so they can invest with confidence. The proposals will create a separate, simplified financial advice regime, making it cheaper and easier for firms to advise consumers about certain mainstream investments within stocks and shares...

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Improvements needed to the credit information market to deliver better lending decisions for borrowers

Credit reference agencies (CRAs) build financial profiles of consumers which they sell to credit information users to inform lending and other decisions. The FCA wants to see a higher quality of credit information so that lending decisions better reflect people’s underlying financial circumstances. This should help make sure that consumers are not denied credit they...

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FCA concerned about problem behaviours linked to trading app design

Features include sending frequent notifications with the latest market news and providing consumers with in-app points, badges, and celebratory messages for making trades. The FCA has found that consumers using apps with these kinds of features were more likely to invest in products beyond their risk appetite. Alongside its warning to app operators, the FCA...

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ASIC suspends FTX Australia’s AFS licence

ASIC has suspended the Australian financial services license of FTX Australia Pty Ltd (AFS license 323193) until 15 May 2023 after it was placed into voluntary administration on 11 November 2022. Until 19 December 2022, FTX Australia can continue to provide limited financial services that relate to the termination of existing derivatives with clients. On...

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Unlicensed CFD trader banned from providing financial services for 10 years

Mark Jennings, of Sunshine Coast, Queensland, has been banned from providing financial services and carrying on a financial services business for 10 years after he advertised guaranteed investment returns and traded Contracts for Difference (CFDs) using client funds when he was not licensed. Mr. Jennings, the former director of Suncoast Trading Pty Ltd (in liquidation)...

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FCA bans director from working in financial services after violent criminal conviction

The Financial Conduct Authority has banned Mr. Ashkan Zahedian from working in financial services following his conviction for serious, violent offenses, which took place while he was an approved individual. Mr. Zahedian was the sole director of an authorized consumer credit firm, Vast Cars Limited, and was approved by the FCA as a senior manager....

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22-304MR Court finds NAB engaged in unconscionable conduct over account fees

The Federal Court has found that National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) engaged in unconscionable conduct by continuing to charge customers periodic payment fees even though NAB knew the overcharging was occurring. ASIC alleged that between February 2015 and February 2019, NAB was charging fees for some periodic payments even though customers were entitled to an...

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FCA progresses market abuse claim against Globo Plc chiefs

The FCA alleges the former CEO, Mr. Konstantinos Papadimitrakopoulos, and former CFO, Mr. Dimitris Gryparis, made misleading statements that caused the company’s shares to be traded significantly above their true value before the company’s total collapse in November 2015. The FCA is seeking compensation for investors whom the FCA claim was adversely impacted by the...