FCA failures in consumer protection

The request was refused by The Financial Conduct Authority.

Dear The Financial Conduct Authority,

I refer to The Mail on Sunday's revelations about Town & Country Law Ltd which raise serious questions for the Financial Conduct Authority. It is the case that applicants to the FCA have to supply details of any convictions, and the FCA has access to criminal records so its investigators can carry out checks.

Please would you directly address and answer the following questions as well as provide ALL THE RELEVANT DOCUMENTS INCLUDING SEARCHES AND CHECKS UNDERTAKEN THAT YOU HOLD IN RESPECT OF EACH QUESTION:

1. Was the FCA aware of the criminal conviction of the Director of Town & Country Law Ltd of Lincoln?

2. If the FCA was not aware of the criminal conviction referred to in Q1, why was this and exactly what did your checks and searches reveal?

3. Why does the FCA's online register tells the firm's clients that if they need to make a complaint, they should email 'Robynne' at Town & Country Law, if as suggested, she is no longer at the firm and is awaiting trial?

4. Was the FCA even aware before today of the charges facing those linked to Town & Country Law?

Yours faithfully,

Matt Banoffi

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

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The FCA (or, if this email originates from the Payment Systems Regulator
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Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), or the Payment Systems Regulator
Limited.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is registered as a limited company
in England and Wales No. 1920623. Registered office: 12 Endeavour Square,
Stratford, London, E20 1JN, United Kingdom

The Payment Systems Regulator Limited is registered as a limited company
in England and Wales No. 8970864. Registered office: 12 Endeavour Square,
Stratford, London, E20 1JN, United Kingdom

Switchboard 020 7066 1000

Web Site http://www.fca.org.uk (FCA); http://www.psr.org.uk (the Payment
Systems Regulator Limited)

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

3 Attachments

Our ref:        FOI9307

 

Dear Mr Banoffi

 

Freedom of Information: Right to know request

 

Thank you for your email of 29 May 2022, in which you asked:

 

I refer to The Mail on Sunday's revelations about Town & Country Law Ltd
which raise serious questions for the Financial Conduct Authority. It is
the case that applicants to the FCA have to supply details of any
convictions, and the FCA has access to criminal records so its
investigators can carry out checks.

 

Please would you directly address and answer the following questions as
well as provide ALL THE RELEVANT DOCUMENTS INCLUDING SEARCHES AND CHECKS
UNDERTAKEN THAT YOU HOLD IN RESPECT OF EACH QUESTION:

 

1. Was the FCA aware of the criminal conviction of the Director of Town &
Country Law Ltd of Lincoln?

 

2. If the FCA was not aware of the criminal conviction referred to in Q1,
why was this and exactly what did your checks and searches reveal?

 

3. Why does the FCA's online register tells the firm's clients that if
they need to make a complaint, they should email 'Robynne' at Town &
Country Law, if as suggested, she is no longer at the firm and is awaiting
trial?

 

4. Was the FCA even aware before today of the charges facing those linked
to Town & Country Law?

 

We have processed your email in line with the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and our response is below.

 

Our decision on your request

 

For question 1, we can confirm that we hold information relevant to this
question, however we are unable to confirm whether we were aware of the
criminal conviction of the Director of Town & Country Law Ltd of Lincoln
before or after the Mail on Sunday article. However, we are prohibited
from disclosing this information to you, as it constitutes ‘confidential
information’ for the purposes of section 348 of the Financial Services and
Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), and which the FCA has received in the discharge
of its public functions. We are therefore prohibited from disclosing this
information under section 44 of FOIA. For more information on why this
exemption applies, please see Annex A.

 

Since we are unable to disclose the information you have asked for in
question 1, question 2 falls away.

 

For question 3, we can confirm that the Complaints Contact name was
updated on our Register on 3 September 2021 but unfortunately the email
address on the Complaints Contact record did not update as expected due to
a system error. We can confirm that the Complaints Contact email address
has now been updated on the Register.

 

Finally, for question 4, like with question 1 we can confirm that we hold
information on whether we were aware of the charges facing those linked to
Town & Country Law. However, we are prohibited from disclosing this
information to you, as it constitutes ‘confidential information’ for the
purposes of section 348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
(FSMA), and which the FCA has received in the discharge of its public
functions. We are therefore prohibited from disclosing this information
under section 44 of FOIA. For more information on why this exemption
applies, please see Annex A.

 

Your right to complain under the FOIA:

 

If you are unhappy with this response, you have the right to request an
internal review.  To do so, please contact us within 40 working days of
the date of this response at [1][email address].

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you also
have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner by phone or on
their website at:

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: [2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Information Disclosure Team / Operations Division

[3]Description: cid:image001.png@01D2A7C9.64DDD390

12 Endeavour Square

London

E20 1JN

 

[4]www.fca.org.uk

 

Follow us:

 

[5]Description: https://g.twimg.com/Twitter_logo_blue.pn...
image003

 

 

Annex A

 

 

·                Section 44 (Prohibitions on Disclosure)

 

Section 44(1)(a) of FOIA states that information is absolutely exempt from
disclosure if this is prohibited by law.  Section 348 of FSMA restricts
the FCA from disclosing ‘confidential information’ it has received in the
course of carrying out its public function.  FSMA allows exceptions to
this in a few specific circumstances, but none of these apply to this
request.

 

Confidential information here is defined as non-public and non-anonymised
information involving a person’s business or other affairs, which the FCA
received in the course of carrying out its public function.

 

The information you requested is confidential information under this
provision.  If we disclosed this information, without the provider’s
consent or the consent of the person the information is about (if
different), we would be in breach of section 348 of FSMA.  This would be a
criminal offence.

 

In many requests for information under FOIA we have to judge different
factors to decide whether disclosing the requested information would be in
the public interest or not.  For this request, we have an ‘absolute’
exemption against supplying the information, and so we do not need to make
this kind of judgement.

 

 

 

 

This communication and any attachments may contain personal information.
For more information about how and why we use personal information and who
to contact with any queries about this, please see our privacy notices:
FCA Privacy Notice (https://www.fca.org.uk/data-protection) and PSR
Privacy Notice
(https://www.psr.org.uk/cookies-privacy-a...).

This communication and any attachments contain information which is
confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. It is for intended
recipients only. If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy,
distribute, publish, rely on or otherwise use it without our consent. Some
of our communications may contain confidential information which it could
be a criminal offence for you to disclose or use without authority. If you
have received this email in error please notify [email address]
immediately and delete the email from your computer. Further information
on the classification and handling of FCA information can be found on the
FCA website
(http://www.fca.org.uk/site-info/legal/fc...).

The FCA (or, if this email originates from the Payment Systems Regulator
Limited, the FCA on behalf of the Payment Systems Regulator Limited / the
Payment Systems Regulator Limited) reserves the right to monitor all email
communications for compliance with legal, regulatory and professional
standards.

This email is not intended to nor should it be taken to create any legal
relations or contractual relationships. This email has originated from the
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), or the Payment Systems Regulator
Limited.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is registered as a limited company
in England and Wales No. 1920623. Registered office: 12 Endeavour Square,
Stratford, London, E20 1JN, United Kingdom

The Payment Systems Regulator Limited is registered as a limited company
in England and Wales No. 8970864. Registered office: 12 Endeavour Square,
Stratford, London, E20 1JN, United Kingdom

Switchboard 020 7066 1000

Web Site http://www.fca.org.uk (FCA); http://www.psr.org.uk (the Payment
Systems Regulator Limited)

References

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