Syed Rahman of Rahman Ravelli outlines the Financial Conduct Authority’s notable revision of its enforcement guide
In releasing its revised enforcement guide, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has scaled back its controversial plans to name and shame those under investigation.
The FCA was heavily criticised by regulated firms and industry groups for its proposal to announce that a company is under investigation when doing so was considered to be in the public interest.
The regulator is now keeping its current policy of only naming firms in “exceptional circumstances”. But it has outlined three sets of circumstances where greater disclosure about an investigation will be permitted.
These are:
- Proactive announcements: The FCA is investigating suspected unauthorised financial services, and the announcement will warn consumers or help the investigation.
- Reactive announcements: The investigation has already been publicised elsewhere.
- Anonymised announcements: Where the FCA makes an announcement with the intention of educating the industry or encouraging compliance.
The FCA has said that this change has the broad support of the sector it regulates. These new circumstances apply only to enforcement cases that are started from June 3 2025 onwards.
The regulator said that the new approach is designed to support public confidence and encourage better behaviour while also avoiding the reputational harm that can be caused by premature announcements. Even though the FCA has reduced the scope for making announcements, the published changes are still a move to greater transparency.
Changes
The regulator has reduced its enforcement guide by 250 pages. It says this has largely been done by removing material that was duplicated and moving content that was not focused on enforcement – moves it believes will make it easier for companies and advisers to access key information.
One new rule means that the FCA may prevent legal advisers from attending their client’s compelled interviews if the regulator believes their attendance could adversely affect the investigation.
The FCA has also stated that it will stop using private warnings (communications that raise concerns about a person's conduct) as an enforcement tool because they do not determine whether the recipient has breached its rules. Although the FCA added that it has not used these for some time.
The regulator believes its new approach will make its investigations faster and more focused and help both consumers and markets. The FCA said that five recent investigations each closed with a public outcome in less than 16 months, compared with an average of 42 months for an outcome for those completed between 2023 and 2024.
