The total amount of fines administered by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) since its creation in 2001 is about to hit the £100 million milestone, OpRisk & Compliance reports. So far in 2008, FSA has imposed £20.5 million in fines, £8.1 million of which were jointly levied against Santander-owned UK bank Alliance & Leicester and HFC Bank, part of HSBC, for “mis-selling payment protection insurance.”
The £100 million total barely registers when compared to fines imposed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. For comparison’s sake, the £100 million total of all fines imposed by the FSA since 2001 (which converts to approximately US$162 million) would not make the Top 10 single SEC settlements according to a recent report from RiskMetrics Group listing the Top 30 SEC Disgorgements (it would fall at #14 on that list).
