Compliance Digest - 2nd February 2024

This is a summary of some of the regulatory issues that have come from the FCA, PRA, and my various news feeds this week. 

• The UK Economic Crime Regime

• PRA fines HSBC £57.5 million for failures in deposit protection identification and notification

• The FCA and Practitioner Panel joint survey for 2024 launches

• Australians have more control over their pensions than those in UK

• Education Select Committee launches inquiry into strengthening financial education

• Seven key areas of FCA scrutiny

The UK Economic Crime Regime

On 10th January, the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2023 came into force which changed the Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) requirements for domestic PEPs.  The Law Society has published a guide that is aimed at solicitors and Law Firms but is a useful summary.

PRA fines HSBC £57.5 million for failures in deposit protection identification and notification

In a news release, the PRA has confirmed that it has fined HSBC Bank plc (HBEU) and HSBC UK Bank plc (HBUK) £57,417,500 for historic depositor protection failings arising from the Firms’ failures over many years to properly implement the requirements set out in the Depositor Protection Rules.  These included the failure to accurately identify deposits that were eligible for Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection.  The failings occurred for HBEU between 2015 and 2022, and for HBUK between 2018 and 2021.  This fine, the second highest imposed by the PRA, reflects the seriousness of the failings.  The final notice can be read here. 

The FCA and Practitioner Panel joint survey for 2024 launches

The FCA has announced its 2024 joint survey with the Practitioner Panel.  The survey is being sent to a sample of 25,000 regulated firms, to gather their feedback on how it is doing in regulating the industry 

The regulator will use the survey results to better understand issues affecting firms and to assess any changes that it should consider making to its approach, as part of becoming a more innovative, assertive, and adaptive regulator.  The survey is one of several sources of feedback used to evaluate the FCA’s performance against key areas of its  3-year strategy.  The results will be presented to the Practitioner Panel and the FCA Board and published in the summer

Australians have more control over their pensions than those in UK

Food for thought in FT Adviser.  Jonathan Hawkins of Bravura Solutions compares the Australian workplace pension model with that in the UK. 

Education Select Committee launches inquiry into strengthening financial education

In November 2023, the Education Committee launched an inquiry into how financial education can be strengthened throughout the education system.  This has only just come to my attention and the call for evidence closed in mid-December.  There was coverage this week in FT Adviser.

Seven key areas of FCA scrutiny

In a thought piece in Money Marketing, Vicky Pearce of B-Compliant identifies seven key areas that the FCA is likely to focus on in 2024.  Clearly, the Consumer Duty underpins everything identified.

Ian Ashleigh