Information on enforcement investigations into Senior Managers - May 2022

1. The number of active investigations into individuals

2. How many of those active investigations are into Senior Managers as defined in the Senior Managers & Certification Regime

3. The number of investigations that relate to Senior Managers that have been opened since March 2016, broken down by calendar year

4. The number of investigations that relate to Senior Managers that have been closed since March 2016, broken down by calendar year

5. Of the number of investigations that relate to Senior Managers that have been closed since March 2016, the number that resulted in:
   
   1. Discontinuance without action
   2. Enforcement action
   3. Prohibition
   4. Refusal of approval
   5. Withdrawal of approval by FCA
   6. Suspension of approval or the imposition of conditions
   7. Applications withdrawn by the relevant firm/candidate

6. How the active investigations that relate to Senior Managers break down into the following categories:
   
   1. Application to revoke/vary permission, approval or prohibition
   2. Culture and governance
   3. Financial Crime
   4. Financial promotions
   5. Individual conduct rules
   6. Insider Dealing
   7. Listing requirements
   8. Market manipulation
   1. Misleading statements
   10. Retail conduct
   11. Senior Manager rules
   50. Unauthorised business
   1000. Wholesale conduct
   14. Other (please specify)

7. Please could you also indicate

    

   1. how many investigations the FCA has opened into non-financial misconduct (figures were provided in response to FOI7821 in respect of 2018, 2019 and 2020 – the latter on 23 December 2020) please give breakdown by year of opening for:
      
      1. 2021; and
      2. if there is an update to the response in FOI7821, for 2020.
   2. how many of those investigations focus on individuals classed as senior managers;
   3. how many active investigations the FCA currently has into non-financial misconduct by
      
      1. individuals classed as senior managers;
      2. certified persons; and
      3. other staff subject to the FCA's Code of Conduct;
   4. how many investigations into non-financial misconduct the FCA has discontinued with no enforcement action being taken?
   5. how many active cases of non-financial misconduct into individuals are there in the threshold conditions team?

By way of background, please note that:

• The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) has applied to Senior Manager Functions (SMFs) at UK banks, building societies, credit unions, branches of foreign banks operating in the UK and the largest investment firms regulated by the PRA and the FCA since 7 March 2016.
• SMFs at dual-regulated insurers (regulated by both the FCA and PRA) have been subject to the SM&CR since 10 December 2018.
• The SM&CR replaced the Approved Persons Regime (APER) for SMFs from 9 December 2019 for solo-regulated firms regulated by the FCA only.
• For banking firms, the FCA Code of Conduct (COCON) was extended to non-SMF staff from 07 March 2017. For insurance firms, COCON was extended to apply to non-SMF staff from 09 December 2019.  It was extended from 31 March 2021 for solo regulated firms. The COCON rules apply to those staff that fall under the SM&CR.

Potential misconduct by individuals at firms prior to the dates listed above when the new regimes became effective is largely captured under APER. In total, the FCA has over 370 individuals under investigation for a range of potential breaches, including APER, COCON, Fitness and Propriety (FIT), and criminal misconduct.

Question 1

As at 28 March 2022, the FCA has 374 individuals under investigation.

Question 2

As at 28 March 2022, there are 47 open SM&CR investigations into individuals holding a Senior Manager function.

Questions 3 and 4

Please find below, the number of investigations relating to Senior Managers which have been opened since March 2016, broken down by calendar year:

Question 5

We do not record our outcomes in the way you have specified, however, please see the table below which shows a breakdown of the outcomes that we record.

Please note:

• In respect of ‘Refusal of approval’ and ‘Applications withdrawn by the relevant firm/candidate’, that we would not open an Enforcement investigation as a result of an application to be an approved person. Our Authorisation division’s consideration of whether to approve an application is distinct from our Enforcement activities.
• We consider ‘enforcement action’ to encompass both prohibitions and financial censure and use it as an umbrella term to refer to both.
• There have been no enforcement actions that are responsive to ‘outcomes of suspension of approval or imposition of conditions’ for SM&CR investigations.

*Includes Certified Individuals, Material Risk Takers, and other staff to whom COCON applies. 

**Where the FCA obtains written agreement from the firm or individual that they will do (or refrain from doing) a particular thing.

***Includes cases where there was insufficient evidence of a breach or where alternative action was taken, for example Supervisory action.

****Under this heading, we have included outcomes for ‘Withdrawal of approval’.

Question 6

We do not categorise our Enforcement investigations as specified in your request, however, for the relevant time period, we have provided below, counts for the primary issues recorded in our active investigations concerning individuals holding a Senior Manager Function (as at 28/03/2022).

Question 7a

We have, as detailed below, opened 1 investigation concerning Non-financial misconduct.

Question 7b

The investigation referred to in our above response to question 7a concerned an individual holding a Senior Manager function at the time of investigation.

Question 7c

There are currently 2 active investigations into Non-financial misconduct. These cases concern individuals who hold a Senior Manager function.

Question 7d

1 investigation into Non-financial misconduct was closed with no further enforcement action being taken.

Question 7e

In addition to the above cases, the FCA has also opened 10 Threshold Conditions investigations into Non-financial misconduct since the SM&CR has been effective. These are not cases under SM&CR.

Of these cases, 6 are closed and 4 remain open as at 28 March 2022.