Enforcement Actions
UK FCA increased penalties on individuals in 24/25, 83 investigations open
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August 14, 2025
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has increased the number of penalties and enforcements taken against individuals in its 2024/25 financial year compared to the previous year.
The regulator currently has 83 enforcement investigations open into individuals who were employed by a regulated, listed or publicly traded firm at the time of the alleged misconduct. Meanwhile, according to its annual report, there are 37 defendants in FCA cases awaiting trial in the Crown courts.
Big increase
The FCA’s latest enforcement data shows it imposed 13 financial penalties on individuals worth some £7.3 million — up 225% from the four worth £4.2 million in the 2023/24 financial year.
As of year-end 2024/25, the regulator had 130 open enforcement operations (in respect of 259 individuals and 122 firms), down from 188 (in respect of 341 individuals and 162 firms) in 2023/24.
The FCA told Compliance Corylated that, as of July 31, it has 83 enforcement investigations open into individuals who were employed by a regulated, listed or publicly traded firm. That means the regulator is investigating about 176 individuals involved in potential misconduct outside the regulated sector, such as fraud and investment scams.
Uptick in VREQs
Separately, the FCA increased its use of voluntary requirements (VREQs) 119 times in 2024/25 compared with 104 the previous year. Firms’ inability to comply with VREQs and make the changes to their systems and controls required by the FCA has been a theme in three financial crime enforcement actions in the past 12 months.
Monzo, Starling and CB Payments all failed to comply with VREQs asking them to offboard high-risk customers and fix their controls and were all fined by the FCA.
The regulator has also used the voluntary direction powers from the Money Laundering Regulations (MLRs) six times. It has used this intervention tool extensively on crypto asset service providers registered under the MLRs — around 45 times since 2020.