Three individuals behind an investment fraud which conned £1.2m from UK investors have been convicted and sentenced to a total of 24.5 years.

The Financial Conduct Authority has outlined its plans to reduce and prevent financial crime as part of its 2023/24 Business Plan released today.

The Financial Conduct Authority has revealed plans to raise its annual fee charged to its Financial Planning firm segment by 8.9% for 2023/24.

The FCA has imposed a number of restrictions on a senior manager at an IFA firm where £1.5m of client funds may have been misappropriated.

Nexus Independent Financial Advisors Limited and Nexus Investment Managers Limited have been sold for a total of £500,000 following restrictions placed on the firm’s activities by the FCA.

The FCA has warned that scammers have tried to clone the FCA website and are also regularly using fake emails to target regulated firms.

The FCA has restricted business at London IFA firm Independently East Ltd (IEL) (FRN488046) after it failed to pay a £70,000 Ombudsman award to a client.

Adviser support network SimplyBiz has launched an online interactive ‘Horizon Scanner’, which it said is designed to keep firms up to date with the regulatory activities happening in 2023. 

The FCA will begin invoicing for the Treasury’s new Anti-Money Laundering levy from July, with some large firms expected to pay £250,000 per annum.

The FCA has approved the first Long Term Asset Fund (LTAF) with Schroders becoming the inaugural provider.