FOCUS: A new approach to FCA enforcement?

FOCUS: A new approach to FCA enforcement? How to dig out a client when the FCA is dug in.

In this edition of FOCUS, Tom Forster KC analyses the Financial Conduct Authority‘s decision in Dwane and sees a potential shift towards regulatory enforcement in insider dealing cases rather than criminal investigation and prosecution.

This direction of travel was signalled in a policy announcement by the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and oversight in a speech at the City & Financial Global FCA Investigations and Enforcement Summit on 20th October 2025.

General Counsel in City financial institutions and legal practitioners may find this analysis useful when advising in such cases.

Tom Forster KC specialises in business crime and public and administrative law. He acts in both contentious and related pre-contentions matters as well as advising in non-contentious work including issues of policy

Ed Vickers KC took silk in 2017 and has a mixed practice of fraud and serious and complex crime. He is the editor of Red Lion Chambers’ Focus on Fraud blog.

Faras Baloch is a specialist in fraud and corporate crime. He is the editor of the Red Lion Chambers Fraud Newsletter.

Read FOCUS here