Huw Jones

LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain’s financial watchdog is to speed up its response in cases of fraud and financial misconduct after being criticised for failing to address the soaring number of scams that have cost consumers many millions of pounds.

On Friday, the watchdog announced that it would be introducing new proposals that were put to public review in July. It stated that its executive staff should make decisions about authorisations and starting civil proceedings.

The FCA stated that such decisions were taken in good faith by its Regulatory Decisions Committee. They will now focus on serious misconduct cases.

The UK is currently facing financial frauds that have cost 754million pounds to consumers in six months. This represents a 30% increase over the period of 2020. It puts pressure on FCA officials to take more aggressive action.

The watchdog was also criticised for being too slow in its handling of London Capital & Finance, an investment fund that collapsed, forcing the government to pay compensation to investors.

Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of FCA, stated earlier in the year that the FCA watchdog should be more prepared to challenge its power to the limits than to worry about legal challenges to its decisions.

“We want to be an organisation that runs toward the fires of complex, difficult issues – and to try to put them out,” Rathi said in July.

On Friday, the FCA stated that many respondents to their public consultation were worried that speed and efficiency would be overemphasized and increase the risk of not being fair and objective in decision-making.

According to the watchdog, its proposed procedures are fair and it has not made any changes.