Isle Of Man FSA Publishes New Enforcement Decision Making Process

December 2019 saw the Isle of Man FSA publish its new "Enforcement Decision Making Process" (DMP). The DMP is a staged process followed by the FSA when exercising its statutory powers of enforcement. The DMP does not apply to the investigative stage of a case, nor does it apply in non-enforcement decisions (e.g. the issuing of a licence). Significantly, the DMP introduces, for the first time, the idea of settlement in enforcement cases.

A full table of decisions to which the new DMP is applicable is provided in Section 2 of the publishedFSA document, which can be found here.

The document reaffirms the FSA's expectation that regulated entities and their key persons will be open and honest in any dealings with the Authority. This expectation extends to enforcement action with the Authority placing further emphasis on co-operation. This co-operation can, as the Authority advises, lead to a 30% discount in any discretionary penalty imposed.