A former compliance officer at Keydata has today been banned.

Peter Johnson has escaped a £200,000 fine, however, due to “serious financial hardship”.

The FCA has also publicly censured him, saying it had found that he “failed to act with integrity… and misled the then Financial Services Authority on a number of occasions.”

Today’s ban was announced after Mr Johnson’s withdrawal of his reference to the Upper Tribunal.

According to the FCA Final Notice, Mr Johnson “failed to act with integrity in carrying out his controlled functions”.

Officials said he was aware that Keydata had received professional advice that its financial promotions contained “unclear, incorrect and misleading statements and had failed to take the steps recommended by its advisers to address those matters”.

He and the firm also failed to act on advice and recommendations to address failings on inadequate due diligence, the FCA said.

Keydata designed, launched and, via IFAs, distributed structured investment products to retail customers. Keydata went into administration on 8 June 2009 and was dissolved on 2 July 2014. Prior to its administration, Keydata had £2.8 billion of its own and other institutions’ investment products under administration.

Mr Johnson was aware Keydata had failed to take adequate steps to ensure that risk was being effectively managed and that investors and IFAs were aware, the document stated.

The FCA said he “recklessly failed either to take adequate steps to ensure that Keydata addressed the issues and risks that had been identified in relation to the Lifemark Products or to take adequate steps to stop Keydata from marketing and selling the Lifemark Products until effective remedial steps were taken”.

Proceedings continue in the Upper Tribunal with respect to the references made by Stewart Ford, Keydata’s former CEO, and Mark Owen, Keydata’s former sales director.