The Upper Tribunal has upheld the FCA’s decision to ban Stephen Joseph Burdett and James Paul Goodchild from working in regulated financial services. The case involved pension switches conducted through Synergy Wealth Limited into high-risk portfolios created at Westbury Private Clients LLP. Key facts included: 232 pension funds (over £10 million) moved into high-risk portfolios 38% concentration in a single offshore property developer Portfolios labelled “cautious” and “bala

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its 2026 Regulatory Priorities for the Insurance Sector, setting out the regulator’s supervisory focus across insurers, MGAs, brokers, intermediaries and price comparison platforms. These priorities replace the historic portfolio letter approach and are intended to provide firms with a single, clear view of regulatory expectations. In practice, they represent the FCA’s supervisory agenda for the year ahead, and therefore a c

The UK financial markets are moving to T+1 settlement for securities trades on 11 October 2027. From that date, most transferable securities traded on UK trading venues and settled through UK central securities depositories (CSDs) must settle within one business day. While this change is being led by industry through the Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST), it is now firmly embedded in the regulatory framework, and the FCA has made clear that firms should already be planni

On 15 October 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Policy Statement PS25/14 - Definition of Capital for FCA Investment Firms, following its April 2025 consultation paper CP25/10. The Policy Statement finalises the FCA’s plans to simplify and consolidate how regulatory capital (or own funds) is defined for FCA-regulated investment firms under MIFIDPRU 3. The reforms are structural rather than substantive. They do not increase capital requirements or force firm

With three months to go, AIFMD 2.0 is finally approaching implementation. EU Member States must transpose the directive into national law by 16 April 2026 , with fund managers expected to be compliant from that date. While AIFMD 2 does not fundamentally overhaul the existing regime, it introduces targeted but material changes that will affect how AIFMs manage liquidity, originate loans, delegate functions, disclose information, and access EU investors. The impact is particula

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published PS25/23 on non-financial misconduct (NFM), clarifying how bullying, harassment and private conduct interact with the Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SM&CR), the Code of Conduct (COCON) and Fitness and Propriety (FIT) requirements for UK financial services firms. It has published Policy Statement PS25/23 – Tackling Non-Financial Misconduct in Financial Services , confirming amendments to the FCA Handbook. It is parti