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ARTICLE · 29 JUNE 2026

The FCA Sharpens Its Penalty Rulebook

Lewis Silkin
Lewis Silkin
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Lewis Silkin

Lewis Silkin

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The Financial Conduct Authority has updated its penalty framework, introducing changes that will affect how financial institutions and regulated entities face enforcement actions.

United KingdomFinance and Banking
Wendy Saunders
Wendy Saunders
Paul Caddy
Paul Caddy
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The FCA is giving its penalty rulebook a much-needed edit.

CP26/19, published on 15 June 2026, proposes changes to the FCA's Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual (DEPP) that would raise the minimum initial disciplinary penalty for serious individual market abuse cases from £100,000 to £150,000; clarify when income and net assets can justify a deterrence uplift; and extend the penalty framework to cryptoasset market abuse. The FCA is looking for comments on it by 10 August 2026.

DEPP is the mechanism by which the FCA calculates financial penalties. Parts of this mechanism have been running on settings that were last updated in 2010, while inflation, Upper Tribunal decisions and new cryptoasset powers have moved on. The result is a consultation that looks modest, but matters. 

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