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The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is facing renewed criticism over its treatment of whistleblowers and the way it handles reports of suspected misconduct within financial institutions. The controversy has intensified following the death of former banker Simon Andriesz in September 2026, prompting campaigners and parliamentarians to call for an independent examination of the regulator’s whistleblowing procedures. Andriesz had reported concerns about alleged misconduct i

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed business restrictions on six unregulated lenders following concerns about the effectiveness of their anti-money laundering (AML) policies, controls and procedures. The measures limit the firms’ ability to take on new customers, enter into new lending arrangements and, in certain cases, receive payments from existing customers. The restrictions were announced on 23 October 2026 and were imposed at the firms’ own request whil

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned Jeffrey Dawkins, the former chief executive of Vector Wealth Limited, from working in regulated financial services and fined him £269,233 after finding that he concealed the company’s actual ownership and allowed a disqualified director to use its regulatory status to promote high-risk investments. The enforcement action, announced on 21 October 2026, also resulted in a £20,000 financial penalty and a prohibition on senior m

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has secured confiscation orders totalling £851,402.27 against two men convicted of operating a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme that caused at least 65 investors to lose £1,541,799. At a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on September 28, 2026, Raymondip Bedi was ordered to pay £603,404.28, while Patrick Mavanga was ordered to pay £247,997.99. The orders follow a fraudulent investment scheme operated by Bedi and Mavanga between Febr

Financial firms in the United Kingdom closed 238,396 customer accounts linked to suspected money mule activity in 2025, according to a review published by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 23 September 2026. The regulator’s findings also show that fraud proceeds commonly pass through multiple mule accounts before being withdrawn or otherwise converted into usable funds. The figures were collected through a survey of 35 financial services firms, including retail banks,

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has banned three former senior figures at wealth management firm Dolfin Financial after finding that they operated a scheme designed to help wealthy clients bypass the requirements of the country's investor visa programme. The regulatory action concerns an arrangement that operated between 2016 and 2019 and allegedly enabled at least 99 individuals to obtain UK investor visas without making the level of genuine investment required under the

The Financial Conduct Authority has secured an additional 499-day prison sentence against convicted money launderer Richard Faithfull after he failed to comply with a court-ordered confiscation payment exceeding £529,000. The latest legal action follows his earlier conviction for laundering £2.5 million connected to international investment scams and organized criminal networks. The case marks another major enforcement success for the FCA as authorities intensify efforts

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) carried out coordinated enforcement action on Wednesday, targeting eight London addresses suspected of engaging in illegal peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading in what it described as its first operation of this kind conducted jointly with other agencies. The financial regulator confirmed the action as part of a broader effort involving cooperation with tax authorities and police under money laundering and terrorist financing regulat

The Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) has published its latest review into how professional body supervisors oversee the legal and accountancy sectors, pointing to measurable improvements since its establishment in 2018 while warning that deep-rooted weaknesses in enforcement remain unresolved. Although supervisory standards have generally improved over the past several years, the regulator continues to express concern about inconsistent d

The Financial Conduct Authority has handed Nationwide Building Society a £44m fine after finding serious shortcomings in its anti-money laundering and financial crime controls over a period of several years. According to the UK regulator, Nationwide operated with inadequate anti-financial crime systems and controls between October 2016 and July 2021. During this time, those controls failed to effectively monitor transactions carried out by customers holding personal current

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has unveiled a new slate of growth initiatives for 2026, with a major focus on enabling UK-issued stablecoins to deliver quicker and more convenient payment options. As part of this effort, the regulator plans to open its sandbox to allow firms to test stablecoin issuance in a controlled environment, promoting both safe experimentation and forward-looking policymaking. In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, the FCA noted that nearly