Michael Nascimento has been sentenced to an additional almost four years in prison for failing to pay a confiscation order made against him. In 2018, Mr Nascimento was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for his role in a £2.8 million investment fraud, where he was convicted with five associates of defrauding investors through a series...
Category: Press Releases
Interim stop order placed on the Pivotal Diversified Fund
ASIC has issued an interim stop order preventing Vasco Responsible Entity Services Limited (Vasco) from offering or distributing the Pivotal Diversified Fund to retail investors because of deficiencies in the target market determination (TMD). The interim order stops Vasco from issuing interests in, giving a product disclosure statement for, or providing general advice to retail...
ASIC issues infringement notices to energy company for greenwashing
ASIC has taken action for greenwashing against listed energy company Black Mountain Energy Limited (BME). BME has paid $39,960 to comply with three infringement notices issued by ASIC in relation to concerns about alleged false or misleading sustainability-related statements made to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) between 23 December 2021 and 8 September 2022. ASIC...
TSB fined £48.65m for operational resilience failings
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have fined TSB Bank plc (“TSB”) a total of £48,650,000 for operational risk management and governance failures, including management of outsourcing risks, relating to the bank’s IT upgrade program. Technical failures in TSB’s IT system ultimately resulted in customers being unable to access banking...
ASIC industry funding: Annual dashboard and summary of variances
ASIC has released our 2021-22 annual dashboard outlining our regulatory costs by sector and subsector under the industry funding model (IFM). We have also published details about the variance between our estimated and actual costs by subsector. 2021-22 levies under the IFM are based on our actual regulatory costs for each subsector and invoices for...
Festive shoppers at rising risk of loan fee scams as fraudsters pile on the pressure at Christmas
With Christmas fast approaching, the FCA launches its latest ScamSmart campaign aimed at giving consumers the knowledge and tools to avoid loan fee fraud. The FCA warns of the increasing risk of loan fee fraud this Christmas, with cases already up by a fifth on last year. FCA research shows with the rising cost of...
FCA sets out ideas to improve information provided to retail investors
The standards for the information disclosed to potential investors are included in rules known as the Packaged Retail Investments and Insurance Products (PRIIPs) regime and the Undertaking of Collective Investment in Transferable Securities rules, which were created while the UK was in the EU. The FCA will now be responsible for designing and developing new...
FCA fines Metro Bank PLC £10 million and publishes Decision Notices for two of its former executive directors
The FCA has also decided to fine Metro Bank’s former Chief Executive Craig Donaldson and former Chief Financial Officer David Arden £223,100 and £134,600, respectively, for being knowingly concerned in Metro Bank’s breach. Metro Bank has not referred the FCA’s decision to the Upper Tribunal. The two individuals have referred their respective Decision Notices to...
FCA fines Santander UK £107.7 million for repeated anti-money laundering failures
Between 31 December 2012 and 18 October 2017, Santander failed to properly oversee and manage its AML systems, which significantly impacted the accounting oversight of more than 560,000 business customers. Santander had ineffective systems to adequately verify the information provided by customers about the business they would be doing. The firm also failed to properly...
FCA fines three broker firms £4,775,200 for failures relating to the detection of market abuse
The FCA has fined BGC Brokers LP, GFI Brokers Limited, and GFI Securities Limited (together, BGC/GFI) £4,775,200 for failing to ensure they had appropriate systems and controls in place to effectively detect market abuse. BGC/GFI failed to properly implement the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) trade surveillance requirements. This meant there was an increased risk that...
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