FCA fines UK finance firms £568m in 2021

The total is made up of fines from major banks, action against individuals for insider dealing, non-financial misconduct and carrying out regulated activities without authorisation. 

Encompass Corporation leading regulation expert Dr Henry Balani said the pandemic provided criminals with the chance to defraud, launder and perpetrate other forms of financial crime with more efficiency.

“Lockdown, and the resulting dependence on digital services, has made it easier for criminals to impersonate legitimate services and scam consumers,” he said. 

“On the other hand, it has caused difficulties for the financial institutions themselves to detect malicious activity, as digital identities are harder to verify than the physical or in-person alternatives that existed before the pandemic.” 

Despite the challenging backdrop, the FCA prevented £4m being lost to scams, and secured £5m to be paid back to people who invested in companies that were not authorised to undertake financial activity in 2021. 

It also issued a record 1,300 warnings about scams over the course of the year. 

In addition, over £1.2bn has been paid out to settle claims made by small businesses after the regulator won its Supreme Court case to clarify the rules around business interruption insurance.