Economy
FSA bans executives over fraud |
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| Economy | |
| Written by Catherine Murray | |
| Tuesday, 24 August 2010 | |
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UK's financial services regulator has banned five individuals over insurance fraud. The UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulator has banned five individuals in relation to insurance fraud and given one director a near-record fine of £150,000. The FSA announced on Tuesday that the five insurance executives whom it had banned had shown complete disregard for the interests of their customers, Reuters reported. Andrew Jeffery, a director of Jeffery Flanders Limited, was fined £150,000 for failing to put in place adequate insurance policies and knowingly forging documents. The FSA described it as one of the largest ever fines against an insurance broker, the Reuters report said. Barrie Duncan Aspden of Orion Direct Limited and Peppercom Plc was banned for using customer money to create a new company, meaning that customers were at risk of being uninsured because their premiums were being misused. Aspden's wife Melanie and his sister-in-law Gaenor Clayton were also banned, along with Orion executive Paul Willment, for their roles in the affair. Willment was fined £50,000, Reuters reported. The FSA has sought to toughen up its act in the wake of the financial crisis, and last month it handed out a £320,000 fine to the former finance director of Northern Rock, the first British victim of the credit crunch. The regulator has started a recruitment drive for extra staff to fight commercial crime as it tackles proposals to strip it of the role regarded as one of its most important functions. Margaret Cole, the head of enforcement and financial crime, is taking on about 30 staff to strengthen her division, which takes action against breaches of City regulations and mounts criminal prosecutions, the Times reported yesterday. |
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