Request for correspondence

Peter Cornell made this Freedom of Information request to The Financial Conduct Authority Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was successful.

Dear The Financial Conduct Authority,

Please could you supply the following information;
emails (including their attachments) sent to or received from the email accounts of FCA officers listed below between the first of October 2017 and the date of this request, in which the phrase "Collateral (UK)" or “Collateral UK” appears and also emails in the same chains of correspondence related to Collateral (UK) Limited.

a) Sarah Rapson (Director, Authorisations)

b) Philip Salter (Director, Supervision)

Yours faithfully,

Peter Cornell

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

Thank you for e-mailing the Financial Conduct Authority's Information
Disclosure Team.

This is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you that 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 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)

Dear The Financial Conduct Authority,

I note that the statutory deadline for the supply of the requested information has now passed.
Please supply the requested information by reply.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Cornell

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

Thank you for e-mailing the Financial Conduct Authority's Information
Disclosure Team.

This is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you that 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 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)

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

Our Ref: FOI11734

Dear Mr Cornell,

Thank you for your email concerning your Collateral UK Ltd related request, the deadline for which is today.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide you with a substantive response by today's deadline.

We apologise for the delay and will endeavour to complete work on your request as soon as possible.

We aim to provide you with a response by 25 November 2024.

Yours sincerely

Information Disclosure Team

12 Endeavour Square
London E20 1JN

Tel: +44 (0)20 7066 3362
http://www.fca.org.uk/

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information,

On the 11th November the FCA wrote
"Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide you with a substantive response by today's deadline.
We apologise for the delay and will endeavour to complete work on your request as soon as possible.
We aim to provide you with a response by 25 November 2024."

It is now the 25th, please supply your response.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Cornell

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

Thank you for e-mailing the Financial Conduct Authority's Information
Disclosure Team.

This is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you that 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 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)

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

Our Ref: FOI11734

Dear Mr Cornell,

Please accept our apologies for not contacting you before this time.

Unfortunately, we were unable to respond to you by the advised date. We continue to work on your request and will endeavour to respond to you no later than 12 December 2024. If we can respond sooner, we will of course do so.

Yours sincerely

Information Disclosure Team

12 Endeavour Square
London E20 1JN

Tel: +44 (0)20 7066 3362
http://www.fca.org.uk/

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

Our Ref: FOI11734

Dear Mr Cornell,

Further to our email of 29 November 2024, we apologise as unfortunately we will not be able to respond to you by today's date as advised in our previous email. We are in the process of finalising your response and now expect to be able to respond to you next week, latest by Friday 20 December 2024.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Yours sincerely

Information Disclosure Team

12 Endeavour Square
London
E20 1JN

http://www.fca.org.uk/

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

3 Attachments

Our Ref: FOI11734

Dear Mr Cornell,

Freedom of Information: Right to know request

Thank you for your email of 13 October 2024, in which you asked for the
following information:

‘Please could you supply the following information; emails (including
their attachments) sent to or received from the email accounts of FCA
officers listed below between the first of October 2017 and the date of
this request, in which the phrase "Collateral (UK)" or “Collateral UK”
appears and also emails in the same chains of correspondence related to
Collateral (UK) Limited.

a) Sarah Rapson (Director, Authorisations)

b) Philip Salter (Director, Supervision).’

We have processed your request in line with the provisions of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Please accept our sincere apologies for a
delay in responding to your request.

Having analysed the scope of the information you are seeking, we are sorry
to inform you that we have concluded that section 14(1) of FOIA applies.
As a result, we will not be able to comply with your request as currently
formulated.

We acknowledge that there is a public interest towards transparency in
relation to Collateral. However, for the reasons set out below, we
consider that to comply with your request would constitute a
disproportionate burden to our organisation.

It is our view that the public interest is diminished by the unfocused
nature of requests which seek disclosure of all items containing keyword
term such as ‘Collateral UK’ or ‘Collateral (UK)’ identifiable in
specified repositories – such searches consistently result in the
identification of large numbers of records. To explain further, in seeking
to satisfy your request, our searches have identified 3493 pages of
potentially relevant material and each page will have to be reviewed.
Disclosure of much of this material would not promote the public interest
in Collateral UK (eg because there is an anodyne reference, simply as part
of a list of work items). 

A further factor to be considered when deciding whether section 14(1)
applies is ascertaining whether compliance would create a significant
burden in terms of expense and distraction (see Annex A).

We have taken account of all the circumstances in this case and consider
that responding to your request would impose a disproportionate burden on
our resources.  Further guidance on the application of section 14 can be
found on the Information Commissioner’s Office [1]website.

In Information Commissioner vs Devon County Council & Dransfield [2012]
UKUT 440 (AAC), (28 January 2013), Judge Wikeley recognised that the Upper
Tribunal in Wise v The Information Commissioner (GIA/1871/2011) had
identified proportionality as the common theme underpinning section 14(1)
and he made particular reference to its comment that:

‘Inherent in the policy behind section 14(1) is the idea of
proportionality. There must be an appropriate relationship between such
matters as the information sought, the purpose of the request, and the
time and other resources that would be needed to provide it.’

The ICO has also said that:

‘The key question to consider is whether the value and purpose of the
request justifies the distress, disruption or irritation that would be
incurred by complying with it. You should judge this as objectively as
possible. In other words, would a reasonable person think that the value
and purpose of the request are enough to justify the impact on the
authority?

This balancing exercise can be represented as follows:

Value of the requested information to the public V Evidence that dealing
with request will cause disruption, irritation or distress.’

The ICO’s guidance provides that section 14(1) may apply where an
authority can make a case that the amount of time required to review and
prepare the information for disclosure would impose a grossly oppressive
burden on your organisation.  The ICO has indicated the following factors
to be relevant in determining whether section 14(1) applies to such a
request:

• whether the requester has asked for a substantial volume of
information; and

• if there are real concerns about potentially exempt information; and

• any potentially exempt information cannot easily be isolated.

We have considered the above factors and are of the view that these
conditions are met, and therefore, that responding to your request would
impose a disproportionate burden on our resources.

As a regulator, we handle large volumes of information, which includes but
is not limited to ‘confidential information’ under s.348 of the Financial
Service and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). Several exemptions under FOIA may
apply to the information you have requested, including section 44
(Prohibitions on disclosure, section 30 (Investigations and proceedings
conducted by public authorities), section 31 (Law enforcement), and
section 40 (Personal information) of FOIA.

In order to isolate potentially exempt information, we are required to
review on a line-by-line basis, all items responsive to your request, to
identify and redact such exempt information.

For the above reasons, we consider that the work required to meet your
request would be disproportionate in terms of the amount of time and
resources of the FCA which would be consumed.

Allowing for 5 minutes to review each page, we estimate that to complete
an initial review of the material would take roughly 291 hours. Satisfying
this request would divert FCA staff away from their on-going regulatory
work and be a significant burden on the FCA’s resources.

Additionally, since April 2024 (in the last 7 months), you have submitted
18 ‘Collateral’ related requests. A number of these requests were wide in
scope, for example, seeking all documentation from the Outlook accounts of
various individuals and/or all files held in our repositories which
contain specific keywords. Due to the nature of such requests, the
information within the scope of this request may relate to the information
already considered as part of previous requests.  This is burdensome and
duplicative for the organisation. 

We are of the view that, due to the cumulative burden of these requests, a
tipping point has been reached as we note that you have submitted several
similar requests, which have been equally burdensome on the organisation.

The ICO makes it clear that, when dealing with a series of requests from
the same requester “the collective burden of dealing with the previous
requests, combined with the burden imposed by the latest request, may mean
a tipping point has been reached, rendering the latest request vexatious.”

Notwithstanding the above, we would be willing to explore with you any
options to refine the scope of your request, so that we can bring the
information to be analysed to a more manageable size.

As you may be aware the FCA has [2]published the [3]outcome of the
Complaints Investigation relating to Collateral (UK) Ltd. This may assist
you in refining your request.  Should you wish to discuss this further
with us, please contact us at our email address. 

The links we refer to are as follows:

Published Press Release -
 https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...

Outcome -
https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corre...

Your right to complain under 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 [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:  [4]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Information Disclosure Team

Description: cid:image001.png@01D2A7C9.64DDD390

12 Endeavour Square

London

E20 1JN

[5]www.fca.org.uk

Follow us:

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

Annex A

Section 14(1) – Vexatious or repeated requests:

We have concluded that this exemption under FOIA applies as your request.

Section 14(1) of FOIA states:

‘Section 1(1) [the general right of access to information held by public
authorities] does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request
for information if it is vexatious.’

A single request taken in isolation may be vexatious solely on the grounds
of burden. That is, where complying with the request would place a grossly
oppressive burden on your resources which outweighs the value or serious
purpose of the request. This was confirmed in [8]Cabinet Office vs
Information Commissioner and Ashton [2018] UKUT 208 (AAC).

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

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/foi...
2. https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releas...
3. https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corre...
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/
5. http://www.fca.org.uk/
6. https://twitter.com/TheFCA
7. https://www.linkedin.com/company/financi...
8. Cabinet Office vs Information Commissioner and Ashton
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...

Dear Freedom of Information,

In your communication of 20th December you stated "Notwithstanding the above, we would be willing to explore with you any options to refine the scope of your request, so that we can bring the information to be analysed to a more manageable size."

I therefore ask that the scope of the request be limited to 23rd November 2017 to 2nd March 2018.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Cornell

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

Thank you for e-mailing the Financial Conduct Authority's Information
Disclosure Team.

This is an automatic acknowledgement to tell you that 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 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)

Peter Cornell left an annotation ()

Referred to ICO 24-01-2025

Freedom of Information, The Financial Conduct Authority

2 Attachments

Our Ref:   FOI11914

Dear Mr Cornell,

Freedom of Information: Right to know request

We write further to your information request dated 22 December 2024, in
which for the period covering 23rd November 2017 to 2nd March 2018, you
asked us to provide:

“…emails (including their attachments) sent to or received from the email
accounts of FCA officers listed below between [SEE ABOVE DATE RANGE], in
which the phrase “Collateral (UK)” or “Collateral UK” appears and also
emails in the same chains of correspondence related to Collateral (UK)
Limited.

a) Sarah Rapson (Director, Authorisations)

b) Philip Salter (Director, Supervision)”       

We have processed your request under the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and our response is below.

We can confirm that we hold the requested information and can disclose the
attached document (Annex A). In line with our previous approach, agreed
with you and the ICO, please note that:

 1. We have removed documents which in their entirety do not relate to
Collateral (UK) Ltd;

 2. Where only some information in a document concerns Collateral (UK)
Ltd, we have ‘whited-out’ those parts which are out of scope because
they do not relate to Collateral (UK) Ltd;

 3. Regarding the remaining in-scope information, we have removed
duplicated material; and

 4. We have redacted:

 a. Information which is exempt from disclosure under section 44 of FOIA
because we are prohibited from disclosing it 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.

 b. Information which is exempt from disclosure under section 40 (Personal
information) of FOIA because disclosure would reveal the personal data
of the individuals concerned.

 c. Information which is exempt from disclosure under section 30
(Investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities) of
FOIA because it has been held for the purposes set out in section
30(1)(c).

 d. Information which is exempt from disclosure under section 31 (Law
enforcement) of FOIA because disclosure would be likely to prejudice
the exercise by the FCA of its regulatory functions under FSMA.

For more information on why these exemptions apply, please see Annex A
below.

Your right to complain under 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 [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:  [1]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Information Disclosure Team

12 Endeavour Square

London E20 1JN

Annex A

General right of access to information held by public authorities

Anyone making a request for information to a public authority is entitled
to be told in writing by the public authority whether it holds the
information the request describes. If the public authority holds that
information, the person requesting it is entitled under section 1(1)(b) of
FOIA to have the information communicated to them. These rights, in
section 1(1)(a) and (b) of FOIA, also have some exclusions and exemptions.

• 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.

It is also possible for ‘received’ information to be embedded within
information created by the FCA, and such information is also exempt from
disclosure under section 44 of FOIA.

The information you requested is confidential information under this
provision. Disclosure of this information in breach of section 348 of FSMA
would be a criminal offence.

In many requests for information under FOIA we have to consider 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 consideration.

• Section 40 (Personal Information)

To the extent that the information that we hold contains personal data
about individuals, section 40(2)(b) of FOIA provides that "any information
to which a request for information relates is also exempt information if
the first, second or third condition listed below is satisfied."

We have applied this exemption because the first condition (as stated in
section 40(3A) of FOIA) is satisfied. Some of the information you have
requested comprises the personal data of individuals other than yourself
which, if disclosed, would contravene any of the data protection
principles.

In particular, it would be a breach of the first data protection Principle
as set out in Article 5 of the UK GDPR, to disclose such information, as
it would not be lawful or fair to the individuals concerned to do so. This
is because, they would not have had the expectation that this information
would be disclosed under these circumstances, and therefore disclosure
would not be necessary, or lawful, where none of the conditions in Article
6 of the UK GDPR have been met.

This is an ‘absolute’ exemption, and so it is not necessary to balance the
public interest for and against disclosing the information.

• Section 30 (Investigations and proceedings conducted by public
authorities)

Information is exempt from disclosure under section 30(1) if it has at any
time been held for the purposes of:

 1. any investigation which the FCA has a duty to conduct with a view to
it being ascertained:

 a. whether a person should be charged with an offence, or
 b. whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it,

 2. any investigation which the FCA conducts which may lead to a decision
to institute criminal proceedings; and

 3. any criminal proceedings which the FCA has power to conduct.

As required by FOIA, we have carried out the public interest test,
considering the following factors:

In favour of disclosure

• There is a public interest in favour of transparency and in the public
being made aware of any information we may or may not have received
about the firms and/or individuals who are operating in the financial
services industry.

• Disclosure of this information would reassure the public about the
effectiveness of the FCA’s approach and demonstrate how we respond to
matters arising in the sector we regulate.

Against disclosure

• There is an inherent public interest in not disclosing any information
which may prejudice future investigations and/or proceedings.

• Disclosure could negatively impact our ability to gather information
from third parties, who may be unwilling to share information if they
think such information will be made public through ad-hoc disclosures
to FOIA requests.

• Disclosure could enable individuals to draw conclusions about how we
use intelligence – enabling the tracking and monitoring of our law
enforcement capability and/or focus and encourage bad actors to
exploit areas of perceived weakness.

For the reasons set out above, in this case, in our view the public
interest lies in favour of not disclosing any information.

• Section 31 (Law enforcement)

The qualified exemption in section 31(1)(g) of FOIA applies to this
request because disclosure of the information requested would, or would be
likely to, prejudice the exercise by the FCA of its functions for the
following purposes:

·         the purpose of ascertaining whether any person has failed to
comply with the law,

·         the purpose of ascertaining whether circumstances which would
justify regulatory action in pursuance of any enactment exist or may
arise.

Since section 31 is a ‘qualified exemption’, we have considered relevant
factors in favour and against disclosing the information, as required by
FOIA:

For disclosure

• There is a strong public interest in favour of transparency and in the
public being reassured about the effectiveness of the FCA’s approach.

• Disclosing the information would demonstrate how we respond to matters
arising in the markets we regulate. It would also enable stakeholders
(including regulated firms) to better understand why and how we make
decisions on regulatory matters.

Against disclosure

• Disclosure could enable the tracking and monitoring of our law
enforcement capability and encourage bad actors to exploit perceived
areas of weakness.

• Disclosure would reveal the FCA’s investigatory strategies which would
assist and/or encourage other individuals/firms under investigation or
likely to come under investigation, to circumvent our regulatory
processes.

• Disclosure would likely affect our interaction with third parties,
making them less willing to voluntarily share information with us.

On the facts of this request, we have concluded that the balance of the
public interest is in favour of withholding the requested information
under section 31 of the Act.

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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