The Financial Conduct Authority has fined hedge fund chief investment officer Corrado Abbattista £100,000 for market abuse and banned him indefinitely from performing any regulated activity functions.

The Financial Conduct Authority has fined Barclays Bank UK PLC, Barclays Bank PLC and Clydesdale Financial Services Limited (Barclays) £26m for poor treatment of consumer credit customers in financial difficulties.

The Financial Conduct Authority has appointed Sheldon Mills as the new executive director for consumers and competition, and Siobhan Sheridan as chief people officer.

The Financial Conduct Authority has banned an ex-financial adviser Shruti Patel who stole £169,000 and operated in the sector under six aliases.

Data from the FCA has revealed that 55% of savers with more than £10,000 in investible assets keep all or most of their money in poorly-paying cash accounts.

The Personal Finance Society has welcomed the FCA’s adviser sector study published yesterday showing rising financial adviser numbers but warned there are still too few advisers to meet demand and soaring PI insurance costs are hitting the profession.

Financial adviser numbers have risen by 1,400 (4%) since the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) and the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR), ending years of decline.

New Model Business Academy, the adviser academy run by SimplyBiz, has been criticised by education inspector Ofsted for a second year after it was found to be “making insufficient progress” from its previous inspection.

PIMFA has called on the Government and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to urgently reform the supervision of financial advice and consumer compensation through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The FCA is to regulate pre-paid funeral plans from summer 2022, it announced this week.