After 8,612 tip-offs regulator secures few convictions

JUST how seriously does the Financial Conduct Authority take unauthorised business? Legally, offering services such as stockbroking without a licence from the regulator is a criminal offence carrying a sentence of two years in jail and an unlimited fine.

I offered the regulator details of Incrementum Funding and even gave my direct phone number. But the watchdog refused to comment and my phone has not rung. According to its annual report, issued a few weeks ago, the regulator received no fewer than 8,612 reports of potential unauthorised activity in the UK in the past year.

The report claims: ‘In the year ending March 2017 our Unauthorised Business department continued to detect, deter, disrupt and prosecute firms and individuals conducting unauthorised business.’

But just how many prosecutions did the regulator bring? It was hard to get an answer. The watchdog waffled on about ‘ongoing investigations’ and pointed me to a prosecution it did launch – in 2013.

The last conviction I could find for running an unauthorised investment business was in May 2015. There are also two cases heading for trial soon. But this is a pretty poor record for a public watchdog, with not a single conviction in the past year.

Much of the regulator’s time is now spent investigating insider dealing and money laundering. These affect the City but have far less impact on ordinary consumers than a scam that can cost people their pensions and life savings. The regulator is even proposing to scrap much of its public register which offers useful information about the background of investment personnel, such as whether they have been involved in scams.

With more than 3,000 staff at its disposal, is it not time the watchdog barked more on behalf of ordinary investors?