FCA Enforcement Notices: UK Supreme Court Judgment Limits Third Party Rights

In support of its policy of credible deterrence, the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") has frequently referred to the lessons to be learned from its final notices and, in recent years, it has included some details of the particular misconduct for which the firm in question is being disciplined. This has resulted in a number of claims by individuals who have asserted that they have been identified in a final notice, prejudiced thereby, and denied their rights under section 393 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ("third party rights").

In a highly significant judgment handed down on 22 March 2017, the UK Supreme Court has substantially narrowed the circumstances in which third parties, who have been identified and criticised in enforcement notices issued by the FCA, are afforded third party rights. In a decision which was not unanimous, the majority held that sec-tion 393 conferred rights on a third party only "if he is identified by name or by a syn-onym