After a relatively quiet year for fines in 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA“) has already published two Final Notices this week confirming the first fines of 2019 that total over £79 million.

The fines follow the FCA enforcement action, upheld on appeal by the Upper Tribunal at the end of last year, against Stewart Ford, the former CEO of Keydata Investment Services Limited (“Keydata”) and Mark Owen, Keydata’s former sales director. Mr Ford and Mr Owen were given 28 days to appeal the Tribunal’s decision to the Court of Appeal but it appears that they have chosen not to and the penalties now stand.

Details of the legal battle and the Upper Tribunal’s findings are considered in more detail in our previous post.

Of the total sum, Mr Ford was subject to a huge fine of £76 million (the largest FCA fine on an individual) and Mr Owen received a fine of over £3.2 million. They have 16 days in which to pay these fines.

Both individuals are also the subject of an FCA prohibition order, which bans them from carrying out functions in relation to regulated activities. A failure to comply with this order could amount to a criminal offence.