An FCA investigation is one of the most demanding events a regulated firm can face. The FCA has extensive powers — to require the production of documents, to interview individuals under compulsion, and ultimately to impose unlimited financial penalties, withdraw regulatory permissions, and refer matters to the Crown Prosecution Service. The firm’s response to an FCA investigation, including the quality and thoroughness of its own internal investigation, is one of the most consequential factors in determining the outcome.
Bond Rees provides financial investigation support for regulated firms and their legal advisers during FCA investigations, combining investigative capability with an understanding of the regulatory process that allows us to work effectively alongside regulatory counsel without cutting across the firm’s legal strategy.
What Bond Rees Provides in FCA Investigations
Parallel internal investigation: conducting a thorough internal investigation alongside the FCA’s own inquiry, establishing the facts before the regulator does and enabling the firm to engage from a position of informed knowledge.
Document and evidence review: systematic review and analysis of the large volumes of documents and electronic records that FCA investigations typically involve, identifying the specific materials most relevant to the inquiry and to the firm’s response.
Witness background investigation: background investigation of individuals who may be witnesses in the FCA investigation, providing the legal team with intelligence about their background, credibility, and any matters relevant to their evidence.
Third-party investigation: investigation of third parties — counterparties, intermediaries, or customers — whose conduct is relevant to the inquiry but who are not within the firm’s direct control.
Asset and enforcement intelligence: where enforcement proceedings are a real prospect, intelligence about the financial position of individuals who may face personal enforcement action.
The Cooperation Framework
The FCA’s approach to enforcement explicitly takes account of the quality of a firm’s cooperation, and the thoroughness and honesty of its own internal investigation is a significant factor in the regulator’s assessment of that cooperation. A firm that has conducted a rigorous internal investigation, identified the full extent of the problem, and taken appropriate remediation steps before the FCA reaches its own conclusions, is in a materially better position than one that has not.
Facing an FCA investigation and need internal investigation support? Contact Bond Rees for expert, confidential assistance.
