“Acting for corporates and individuals in matters covering the full gamut of business crime, BCL has earned ‘a profile that is entirely justified’. ”

Legal 500

In recent years, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has aggressively pursued companies and individuals who it perceives to have damaged the integrity of the financial markets. The FCA may pursue regulatory and/or criminal cases, independently or alongside other agencies, in relation to matters ranging from issues of whether a person is ‘fit and proper’ to work in the markets, market abuse, serious financial crimes such as insider dealing and misleading the market, and large scale institutional scandals such as Libor and FX manipulation.

The FCA will often commence both regulatory and criminal investigations in parallel before deciding what action to take. The FCA’s own regulatory enforcement powers include private warnings, administrative fines and prohibition notices. We will always seek to ensure that matters are concluded in the regulatory arena, but as experienced criminal lawyers we have expertise in dealing with issues such as searches, arrests, interviews under caution and, ultimately, criminal trials.

As a leading business crime firm of solicitors, BCL is well placed to provide effective and discreet advice and representation at all stages of the FCA investigation and enforcement process. Such cases require adept handling by experienced lawyers in order to secure the best outcome, including by minimising the reputational and professional impact of an investigation and by seeking to avoid criminal proceedings.

At a time when the FCA is increasingly active and engages in ever more co-operation with international and domestic enforcement agencies (such as the SEC in the US and the SFO in the UK), it is critical for persons subject to FCA investigations to receive timely, expert advice from lawyers skilled in dealing with such cases.