Fifty editions ago, Enforcement Watch launched with a youthful Adam Epstein as editor, declaring, "At various times, I have heard regulators talk about getting tough. Now for the first time we are seeing them act on their rhetoric," reporting a then-record £2.8m individual fine and the beginnings of what became Operation Tabernula. It is a mark of how far the landscape has moved that this edition finds us discussing commitments decisions, non-financial misconduct, and immigration-adjacent fraud, rather than the FSA's first tentative fines.
Elsewhere in this issue we look back across all fifty editions, tracing enforcement's journey from the birth of the Twin Peaks regime and LIBOR, through the Tribunal's increasingly pointed criticism of FCA decision-making, to today's faster-paced enforcement under Therese Chambers and Steve Smart, and, in a companion piece, the four themes we see recurring throughout: the calculation and justification of financial penalties, the regulator's approach to publicity, the rise of individual accountability, and a broader redefinition of what enforcement is for.
To celebrate this 50th edition we are holding a stellar live event on 15 October 2026 at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, hosted by Adam Epstein, where Tracey McDermott CBE, Tim Herrington, Javan Herberg KC and myself will be examining and dissecting the key enforcement highlights of the previous 16 years.