It's been a very active few months for the FCA both in terms of settled disciplinary cases and successes in the Upper Tribunal. The highlight, certainly measured in terms of media coverage was the Upper Tribunal decision against Jes Staley former CEO of Barclays Bank. At one level the outcome was perhaps inevitable, Mr Staley was found to have mislead the FCA - like in the case of the H2O former CEO Lars Windhorst. However the circumstances of Staley are very unusual, his misleading statements were in response to queries from the FCA about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. This raised the question: without any evidence of wrongdoing, should the FCA really be diving into such personal territory?
In the latest edition of Enforcement Watch, we cover more in this same vein, including essential reading on the Tribunal cases of Lopez, Staley and Donaldson for anyone engaging in penalty negotiations with the FCA, analysis of its key focus on AML with one case against Barclays being settled only 3 months after commencement, and the FCA's current trend of using criminal powers - such as in the case of confiscation proceedings against convicted fraudsters, Oxford and much more.