Our Enforcement Division supports our goals by making it obvious that there are actual and Purposeful consequences to get firms and people who don't stick to the rules.

The action we take is wide ranging not just court action. It can occur at any stage of an individual’s or firm’s regulatory journey, and also where they are unauthorized.

Our Enforcement branch works closely with our inner Authorization, Supervision, Strategy and Competition Divisions, in addition to other authorities and law enforcement. This means we can identify and act early when enforcement action is necessary.

OUR ENFORCEMENT POWERS

We use a wide range of enforcement powers – criminal, civil and regulatory – to protect consumers and to take action against firms and individuals that do not meet our standards.

We can take action such as:

  • withdrawing a firm's authorization
  • prohibiting individuals from carrying on regulated activities
  • issuing Fines/penalties against companies and those who breach our principles or commit market abuse
  • issuing fines against firms breaching competition laws
  • making a public announcement when we begin disciplinary action and publishing details of warning, decision and final notices
  • applying to the courts for injunctions, restitution orders, winding-up and other insolvency orders
  • bringing criminal prosecutions to tackle financial crime, such as insider dealing, unauthorized business and false claims to be Fraud Bureau authorized
  • issuing alerts and warnings about unauthorized firms and people and asking that internet hosts Deactivate related websites
There is more about how we operate in the Decision procedure and penalties manual and Enforcement guide, including information on our approach to decision making and use of our regulatory, civil and criminal powers. Our Enforcement Information guide provides an summary of our enforcement powers, our average Process of disciplinary situations, and data on settlement and mediation.

ENFORCEMENT NOTICES

We publish enforcement notices to inform the public, maximize the deterrent effect of enforcement action and ensure our decisions are transparent.

We also publish certain details regarding enforcement activity once a statutory note is issued.

Warning notices are issued when we propose to take action. We may publish details about these online.

Decision notices are issued when we decide to take action.

Final notices are issued when we take action.

We also publish Supervisory demand finds, cancellation notices, publications and notices.

FINES

All financial Fines and Penalties obtained; besides particular enforcement costs incurred in generating penalties/fines are utilized to decrease our fees, aside from the fees Levied on the penalty payer itself.