Financial watchdog to crack down harder, faster in more public probes

Several key shifts in the UK financial watchdog’s enforcement strategy could see motor retail finance providers subject to far more rapid investigations, allowing less time to respond in a fast-moving enforcement environment.

Speaking at the AFME annual conference, Therese Chambers, the Financial Conduct Authority’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said the agency would focus in future on speeding up highest-profile investigations in order to achieve the maximum deterrent effect and send important signals to the markets.

A central theme of Chambers’ speech was the FCA’s fight against financial crime which was focussing on robust anti-money laundering (AML) and fraud detection mechanisms.

Chambers said the FCA supervises approximately 18,000 firms under money laundering regulations and that a significant portion of its enforcement caseload relates to AML violations.

The speech also highlighted the FCA’s increased use of data and technology to detect misconduct in real time.