Only a couple of weeks ago I was commenting on a NERA report
that had found that in the period between April 2012 and October
2014 the FCA had imposed fines of over £1bn, in sharp
contrast to the preceding decade during which a paltry £320m
had been levied.
Now, on 12 November 2014, the FCA has set another UK record: in
one day it has exceeded the previous 30 month record, by fining 5
banks, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, RBS and UBS for gross and
persistent misconduct in their Forex trading rooms more than
£200m each, totaling £1,114,918,000. Other banks,
including Lloyds and Barclays, have yet to reach a settlement of
the FCA claims, and therefore the final tally is likely to exceed
£1.5bn. While this pales into insignificance compared
with the $56.5bn penalties imposed by US regulators, it marks a
step change in attitude.
