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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: 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

The Payment Systems Regulator Limited is registered as a limited company in England and Wales No. 8970864. Registered office: 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

Switchboard 020 7066 1000

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

Telephone:  020 7066 8080

Email:         [1][FCA request email]

 

Our ref:        FOI5244

 

Dear Mr Wingate

 

Freedom of Information: Right to know request

 

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act), for the following information:

 

“I would be grateful if the FCA could supply me with

 

1) The number of complaints they have received about websites trading
without permissions (i.e being authorised by the FCA)

 

2) The number of warnings they have displayed warnings about on their
website or in public.

 

3) The number of prosecutions that have been initiated by the FCA for
operating without permission.

 

4) The number of successful prosecutions in relation to trading without
permissions.”

 

Before we turn to your request, we would like to explain that:

 

·         As you may be aware, as at 1 April 2013, the Financial Services
Authority (‘FSA’) ceased to exist and was replaced by two new
organisations: the Bank of England which carries out the functions of the
Prudential Regulation Authority (‘PRA’), and the Financial Conduct
Authority (‘FCA’). Further information on these can be found at
[2]www.fca.org.uk. Since you have given no time frame for your request we
have taken your request to relate to the period since April 2013 when the
FCA came into effect.

 

·         In point (1), where you referred to complaints about websites
trading without permission we took this point to relate to reports of
unauthorised business activity on websites recorded by our Unauthorised
Business Department.

 

·         In point (2), where you referred to “warnings we have displayed
warnings about on our website or in public” we took this point to relate
to warnings about websites that we have displayed on our website or in
public.

 

·         In point (3), where you referred to prosecutions initiated by
the FCA for operating without permission we took this point to relate to
criminal prosecutions brought further to FCA investigations (including
those prosecuted by the FCA and those prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution
Service) into contravention of the general prohibition as set out as an
offence in Section 23 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000
(Section 23 FSMA Prosecutions).

 

·         In point (4), where you referred to successful prosecutions in
relation to trading without permissions we took this point to relate to a
Section 23 FSMA Prosecution that ended in a conviction.

 

Your request has now been considered and we estimate that the time we
would need to spend to comply with points 1 and 2 of your request above
would exceed the 18 hour time limit. As this exercise would exceed the 18
hour time limit, we consider that the exemption set out in section 12
(compliance exceeds appropriate limit) of the Act applies. For a full
explanation of why this exemption applies please refer to Annex A.

 

Please note, when we refuse a request because the appropriate limit has
been exceeded, it is our general policy to provide advice and assistance
to the applicant to indicate how the request could be refined or limited
to come within the cost limit. We have considered if we can assist you but
are unable to identify how you might narrow points 1 and 2.

 

Further, in reaching the conclusion that your request exceeds the
appropriate cost limit, we have not considered whether any other
exemptions apply.

 

While an exemption applies to the whole request as set out above, some
information that is relevant to points 3 and 4 your request is already in
the public domain.  We have voluntarily gathered this public information
to assist you but it is provided outside of the FOIA process. This
information is set out in Annex B.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Information Disclosure Team / Cyber and Information Resilience Department

[3]cid:image003.jpg@01D04D1A.B7D20FF0

Financial Conduct Authority

25 The North Colonnade

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5HS

 

Tel:    +44 (0)20 7066 8080

[4]www.the-fca.org.uk

 

 

Your right to complain under the FoI Act

 

If you are unhappy with the decision made in relation to your request, you
have the right to request an internal review.  If you wish to exercise
this right you should contact us within three months of the date of this
response.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you also
have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF. Telephone: 01625 545 700. Website: [5]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

Annex A

 

·                 Section 12 (Costs of compliance exceeds appropriate
limit)

 

The Act requires us to comply with a request, unless it would be too
expensive to do so, as estimated in accordance with the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004 (the Regulations) made by the Ministry of Justice.  The Regulations
provide that, for the FCA, the cost limit is £450, i.e. 18 hours at the
rate of £25 per person hour.  The Regulations allow us to take into
account, when estimating the cost of complying with a request, time spent
determining whether we hold the information requested, locating and
retrieving it and extracting the information from the relevant
document(s).

 

To establish whether we hold information falling within scope of points 1
and 2 of your request would require us to manually review all reports of
unauthorised business activity and consumer alerts. This is because we do
not record whether each report refers to a website or another medium (e.g.
telephone or in person) or whether a website is listed in each alert. To
give you an indication of the work involved on point 1, in 2016/2017 the
FCA received 8612 reports and so to even review this year’s worth of
reports would take over 18 hours. As the full exercise would take well in
excess of 18 hours, the cost of retrieving the information you have
requested would far exceed the £450 cost limit.

 

As our policy is not to divert our resources from our regulatory functions
in order to meet requests under the Act in excess of our cost limit, we
will not be carrying out any further work on this. 

 

 

Annex B

 

o The FCA publishes information on the number of reports of unauthorised
business activity in the FCA Annual Report and Enforcement Annual
Performance Account, the most recent of which for 2016/17 can be found
on the FCA website here:

 

FCA Annual Report 2016/17 report link:

 

[6]https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/annu...

 

Enforcement Annual Performance Account 2016/17 link (see page 17):

 

[7]https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/annua...

 

 

o Information on all the warnings (consumer alerts) on firms and
individuals conducting unauthorised business activity that the FCA has
made public on its website can be accessed at the link below:

 

Consumer Alerts link:

 

[8]https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unautho...

 

 

o For point 3, the number of ‘Section 23 FSMA Prosecutions’ initiated by
the FCA since 1 April 2013 is eight (8). Of these:

o One (1) ended in conviction; and
o Seven (7) are still on-going (individuals charged and awaiting
trial and sentencing).

 

The FCA generally issues a press release when an individual is charged or
convicted and the relevant press releases for all of these cases are
publically available at:

 

[9]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

[10]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

[11]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

[12]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

o For point 4, fifteen (15) Section 23 FSMA Prosecutions have ended in
conviction since 1 April 2013 (please note that fourteen (14) of these
Section 23 FSMA Prosecutions were initiated prior to 1 April 2013). 

 

The FCA has published information about all of these convictions: two (2)
in the 2013/2014 Enforcement Annual Performance Account and the other
thirteen (13) in press releases.

 

Available at:

 

[13]https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corpo...

 

[14]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

[15]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

[16]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

[17]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/f...

 

[18]https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

 

 

 

 

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: 25 The North
Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

The Payment Systems Regulator Limited is registered as a limited company
in England and Wales No. 8970864. Registered office: 25 The North
Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, 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

Visible links
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5. http://www.ico.org.uk/
6. https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/annu...
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8. https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unautho...
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17. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/statements/f...
18. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

Thank you for e-mailing the Financial Conduct Authority's Information Access Team. This is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you we have received your email safely. Please do not reply to this email. We will be in touch in due course.

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: 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

The Payment Systems Regulator Limited is registered as a limited company in England and Wales No. 8970864. Registered office: 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HS, United Kingdom

Switchboard 020 7066 1000

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