FCA investigations

Parliament has granted the FCA wide ranging powers to investigate or prosecute individuals or businesses with a breadth of offences, including insider dealing, breaches of the money laundering regulations, various offences under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (including “General Prohibition” offences), market abuse, fraudulent trading and other regulatory breaches.

In the past the FCA may have opted to pursue enforcement under its regulatory regime, but in recent years we have noticed a trend in its desire to bring more criminal prosecutions.

The FCA will also co-operate with a number of other prosecuting authorities such as the Serious Fraud Office and with the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Bank of England.

From the commencement of an investigation by the Enforcement and Market Oversights Division to the decision to bring either regulatory or criminal proceedings (or in some cases both), the experience is often a gruelling one for individuals and businesses subjected to the scrutiny of the FCA. In addition, the factual and legal interplay between the various regulatory and statutory regimes is highly complex and we recommend instructing a lawyer with FCA investigations and prosecutions expertise at the outset.

James Solicitors have extensive experience of dealing with FCA investigations and prosecutions and are recognised in this field and are regularly instructed in cases of this kind. This currently includes representing a Defendant in Operation Alva: a large-scale and complex criminal prosecution into fraudulent trading and general prohibition offences.