The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the final tranche of its cryptoasset rulebook, completing the regulatory roadmap that will govern trading platforms, custodians, intermediaries, stablecoin issuers and staking arrangers operating in the United Kingdom. The framework crystallises the perimeter established when legislation brought cryptoassets within the FCA's remit in February 2026, and sets a hard commencement date of 25 October 2027 for the mandatory author

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has censured CACEIS UK, an asset servicing bank, and secured a voluntary payment of £31.7m for clients of WealthTek LLP after the firm failed to act on clear indications that client assets were exposed to financial crime risk. CACEIS UK became WealthTek's sub-custodian in November 2020, when the firm was still trading as Vertus Asset Management LLP, taking on responsibility for safeguarding client assets. On three separate occasions the b

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is consulting on a commitments package offered by 11 commodity futures day traders under investigation for suspected competition law infringements. The regulator's concern centres on whether the individuals exchanged commercially sensitive information about their trading and/or coordinated their trading strategies, conduct that risks restricting competition in markets that depend on participants reaching trading decisions independently. T

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has decided to fine Carlos Ricardo Fuenmayor, Chief Executive of BancTrust, £99,600 for failing to disclose three separate matters that bear directly on his fitness and propriety. The provisional findings are notable for what they reveal about the gaps a determined non-disclosure can open in a regulator's view of an approved person. Until December 2021, Mr Fuenmayor did not tell the FCA — including in application forms submitted on behalf

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has obtained a confiscation order of £452,286.80 against Daniel Pugh, who is serving seven years and six months for defrauding investors of £1.3m through a Ponzi scheme operated from his Devon home. Pugh, 36, used Facebook advertising to recruit investors, promising unrealistic returns supposedly generated by trading across multiple markets. In reality, only 19% of the funds collected were ever traded, with the remainder sustaining the ap

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has acknowledged measurable progress in how regulated firms prevent sanctions breaches, while making clear that the work is far from finished. With £37bn of assets frozen in the UK as of last year, the trajectory is encouraging — but the residual weaknesses the regulator identifies are precisely the ones that tend to surface during enforcement. The FCA supervises firms in the financial services sector on behalf of the Office of Financial

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England have set out a shared long-term vision for the use of tokenisation and distributed ledger technology (DLT) in UK wholesale markets, giving firms greater certainty as they consider adopting these technologies. Tokenisation involves creating a digital representation of a real-world asset – such as a share, bond or unit of currency – on a digital ledger. The regulators believe it has the potential to streamline the is

On 15 May 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Bank of England (BoE) and His Majesty's Treasury (HMT) published a joint statement setting out their expectations for how regulated firms and financial market infrastructures (FMIs) should respond to the escalating cyber risks posed by frontier artificial intelligence (AI) models. The authorities warn that the cyber capabilities of current frontier AI models are already exceeding what a skilled practitioner could achi

The FCA has secured an additional 499-day prison sentence against convicted money launderer Richard Faithfull after he failed to fully satisfy a confiscation order linked to a £2.5 million laundering operation tied to overseas investment frauds. Faithfull, now 36, was originally sentenced in 2021 to 5 years and 10 months in prison following an FCA prosecution. Authorities said he played a role in a transnational organised crime network that laundered proceeds from at least se

The FCA has intensified its campaign against illegal finfluencers, leading a co-ordinated international week of action involving 17 regulators across major financial centres. The initiative, which began on 20 April 2026, targeted social media personalities and unauthorised firms using online platforms to promote financial products unlawfully and expose consumers to scams. In the UK, the FCA’s action included securing a guilty plea from Geordie Shore’s Aaron Chalmers for illeg

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has escalated its enforcement stance on cryptoassets, launching its first coordinated crackdown on illegal peer to peer crypto trading operations in the UK. Announced on 22 April 2026, the action signals a more assertive regulatory approach to decentralised trading models that fall outside traditional supervisory frameworks. The operation, conducted alongside HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SW

The FCA has launched a consultation on guidance for firms that may fall within the UK’s future cryptoasset regulatory regime, marking another significant step towards full crypto regulation from October 2027. The consultation follows confirmation by Parliament of the cryptoasset activities that will be brought within scope. The FCA is now seeking views on how it interprets regulated activities including issuing qualifying stablecoins, operating trading platforms, dealing and