Category Archives: FCA

FCA “deliberately and negligently” broke FOI laws, then sacked the whistleblower, Employment Tribunal told

A former manager at the Financial Conduct Authority has alleged that he was fired after blowing the whistle on “a number of matters of serious wrongdoing” relating to the treatment of Freedom of Information Act requests, and that his manager conspired to get rid of him when he raised concerns, the Employment Tribunal has heard.

Further information released in £15m Lendy Auditors claim

A litigation firm pursuing a £15m High Court claim against auditors Moore Stephens LLP, said to have caused losses to retail consumers who used the failed investment firm Lendy, have filed a 30-page-document with more information about the claim, the mouseinthecourt can exclusively report.

‘Don’t blame the directors … the auditors should have audited!’ – Lendy court doc says

A litigation firm pursuing a £15m High Court claim against auditors Moore Stephens LLP has denied that its “case is vague, embarrassing and/or impossible for the Defendant properly to understand” in a court document exclusively obtained by the mouseinthecourt.

Lendy auditor: ‘We made mistakes, but blame the dishonest directors’, defence statement says

Auditing firm Moore Stephens LLP has robustly defended a £15m High Court claim which alleged they acted “negligently” and with a lack of “professional scepticism” when they signed off the accounts of the now failed peer-to-peer lending firm Lendy.

FundingSecure: £888k shortfall in protected client account in January 2019, court documents reveal

One of the joint administrators of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure has told a court details of exactly how much money was missing, and when, from what should have been a ringfenced bank account.

FundingSecure – representative lender appointed in £500k Quistclose claim

A judge has approved the appointment of a single person to represent the interests of 2,148 ‘innocent investors’ caught up in the FundingSecure Quistclose fiasco, in which a disgruntled creditor of the failed peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure has alleged its £500k investment was misappropriated and should be returned.

FundingSecure “misrepresented” £650k loan, Financial Ombudsman secretly ruled

The peer-to-peer lending firm FundingSecure was ordered to refund an investor after making findings of misrepresentation and unfairness — But the platform entered administration before the investor could be compensated and the decision notice published.

FundingSecure: Investors angry as FCA close investigation

Members of the public who invested in the failed peer-to-peer lending company FundingSecure, who stand to lose millions of pounds as a result of lax business practices, have expressed “total, complete and utter ANGER” after the FCA conclude their 5-year-investigation – with no public action taken.

Judge tells jury: The FCA are not on trial [Day 18]

The judge in the Collateral trial that alleges two brothers misled thousands of investors by claiming to be authorised by the FCA has told jurors the authority is not on trial, a court heard. Accusations levelled at the Financial Conduct Authority suggested they engaged in a “face-saving exercise” as they failed to adopt a “robustContinue reading “Judge tells jury: The FCA are not on trial [Day 18]”

FCA admits they “left the window to the car open and someone was able to reach in”, jury hears [Day 17]

Any FCA case worker who “knew their onions” should have spotted Collateral’s name change on the interim permission register, jurors were told.  The 12 men and women deciding the fate of the former Collateral brothers were told their excuses were “nonsense” and “invented”, according to the prosecution. While the two defendants’ representatives tried to convinceContinue reading “FCA admits they “left the window to the car open and someone was able to reach in”, jury hears [Day 17]”

Jurors given ‘route to verdict’ in Collateral Fraud trial [Day 16]

The younger brother and former director of Collateral was the “driving force” and is as responsible for fraud as his eldest brother who changed the company’s name on the Financial Conduct Authority’s interim permission register, a court heard. Jurors will be asked to consider “family dynamics” and the relationship between the two brothers as theyContinue reading “Jurors given ‘route to verdict’ in Collateral Fraud trial [Day 16]”

Peter Currie – “I wanted everything to be correct, above board.” [Day 15]

The director of the failed peer to peer lending firm Collateral, accused of fraudulently changing the name of his company on the FCA interim permissions register, has told jurors that he “never thought for a minute what I’d done was wrong” adding that “what I’d done has traumatised me“

The FCA “don’t fully understand P2P as a market”, jurors hear [Day 14]

As one of the Currie brothers enters the witness box it’s revealed that as early as October 2016 the FCA had concerns that the peer-to-peer finance firm Collateral was being “potentially misleading” in aspects of its work. Jurors also heard of Peter Currie’s “devastation” when the FCA finally took action in January 2018.

Collateral Director tells jury: Rishi Sunak wants compensation for investors [Day 13]

The former director of Collateral has claimed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak complained to the Financial Conduct Authority requesting compensation for investors if the brothers who led the company are not convicted, a court heard. More than 340 letters of complaint and 15 MPs representing their constituents have requested the FCA investigate their handling of theContinue reading “Collateral Director tells jury: Rishi Sunak wants compensation for investors [Day 13]”

Collateral Director: “We are in court now as a bit of deflection of blame from the FCA”, jury hears [Day 12]

One of the directors of Collateral admitted administrators paid him a sum intended for staff wages and he kept it as a “part payment” of what he was owed by the company, a court heard. Andrew Currie, 57, accused of having the company pay out over £370,000 to him before it was forcibly closed, saidContinue reading “Collateral Director: “We are in court now as a bit of deflection of blame from the FCA”, jury hears [Day 12]”

“The FCA was as clear as mud”, Collateral director tells jury [Day 11 PM]

One of the directors of Collateral charged with fraud insists he always wanted the business out of the hands of the FCA, claiming: “I’m not a regulatory person“. Andrew Currie, 57, accused of having the company pay out over £370,000 to him before it was forcibly closed, also claims he lost the invoices for theContinue reading ““The FCA was as clear as mud”, Collateral director tells jury [Day 11 PM]”

Collateral directors took £763k out of company after FCA identified breach, jury told [Day 9]

Collateral paid director Andrew Currie’s girlfriend’s company £275,000 just before the company went into administration which led to purchases of properties in Lancashire and Spain, a court heard. The Financial Conduct Authority investigated bank statements that found where monies went in the days just before lending was officially stopped, jurors were told.

Collateral advisor told directors: “We are not going to be able to fob this off”, jury hears [Day 8]

The two directors of a firm accused of lying to their investors to claim they were authorised by the FCA were told by their own lawyer they would have to be “18 years old” to convince anyone they had made an honest mistake, a jury was told.

Register change “would have been obvious to any case officer if the FCA had done their job” jury told [Day 7AM]

Defence silk for Peter Currie grills FCA caseworker Robert Cooper on the regulator’s knowledge of problems with the Collateral (UK) platform, and what’s said to be its failure to act.

Collateral Legal Advisor: The FCA “passed us from pillar to post throughout the process” [Day 7PM]

A compliance director for the failed finance firm Collateral UK Limited took the stand to explain the difficulties the company had when dealing with the Financial Conduct Authority. “There didn’t seem to be a proper handover process when it moved from one caseworker to the next” was one complaint the jury heard.

FCA: We had ‘access’ to the Collateral platform since October 2016 [Day 6]

An FCA case worker, in his first afternoon in the witness box, has confirmed that the FCA was given ‘access’ to the Collateral platform in October 2016, and had been given a copy of the company’s loan book. Concerned were raised that there appeared to be links between borrower companies and the Curries themselves.

FCA failed to pick up on false register entry for 22 months, jury told [Day 5]

A jury at Southwark Crown Court has heard statements from members of the public, including a retired chartered accountant, who say they only invested using the platform because of its apparent FCA authorisation. The FCA claim the platform only appeared on the FCA register after a director fraudulently changed an unrelated company’s entry, a mistakeContinue reading “FCA failed to pick up on false register entry for 22 months, jury told [Day 5]”

FCA v London Property Investments trial – Judge doing a “little bit more than crossing T’s”

A High Court Judge held a mopping up hearing earlier today to clarify issues following a trial in May 2022. The mouseinthecourt has previously covered days 1 & 3 of this action by the Financial Conduct Authority against London Property Investments (UK) Limited and its directors.

Did internal politics and a culture of confusion at the FCA fail P2P investors?

A trove of normally secret documents have revealed a comprehensive catalogue of missed warnings about the so-called peer-to-peer lending sector after disclosure in a recent case at the Employment Tribunal. This substantial investigation, exclusively carried out by the mouseinthecourt, shows that for a number of years significant concerns were raised – and seemingly not actedContinue reading “Did internal politics and a culture of confusion at the FCA fail P2P investors?”