Compliance & Ethics

ASIC Instrument 2025/509 exempts deposit product issuers from disclosing specific interest rates in Product Disclosure Statements and termination values in periodic statements, provided alternative access methods are offered. The relief, effective the day after registration and repealed on 1 October 2030, reduces disclosure burden but requires issuers to implement compliant alternative disclosure mechanisms.

The FCA has issued a consumer warning identifying Velomarkets as an unauthorized firm operating in the UK without regulatory permission. Financial institutions and compliance teams should ensure this entity is screened against onboarding, payments, and third-party due diligence systems to prevent exposure to fraudulent or unauthorized activity.

The FCA has added Legacy Trading Global to its Warning List for providing or promoting financial services in the UK without authorization. Compliance teams should treat this as a consumer protection alert, ensure internal watchlists are updated, and reinforce due diligence procedures around unauthorized entities and potential scam activity.

The FCA has added Hale Wealthwick (www.hale-wealthwick.com) to its Warning List for providing or promoting financial services without authorization in the UK. Compliance teams at regulated firms should ensure this entity is screened against onboarding, counterparty, and marketing-affiliation checks, and that customer-facing staff are aware of the heightened scam risk associated with unauthorized clone/boiler-room firms.

Christopher Woolcott pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery charges after fabricating a takeover approach for Touchstone Exploration Inc. to manipulate its share price for personal gain. The case underscores the FCA's continued enforcement focus on market abuse involving false information, forged documents, and identity fraud, and signals heightened scrutiny of market-moving announcements and corporate action rumors.

ASIC accepted the voluntary cancellation of Ross Stephen Thomson's registration as a liquidator after raising concerns about his fitness to remain registered, adequacy of resources, and faithful performance of duties. The case, which follows a 2015 enforceable undertaking and the Federal Court's transfer of bankruptcy estates to the Official Trustee, underscores ASIC's ongoing scrutiny of insolvency practitioners and reinforces the regulator's willingness to act on repeat or escalating conduct concerns.

The FCA has publicly flagged Profit Ventures Limited as an unauthorized entity potentially offering or promoting financial services/products to UK consumers without regulatory permission. This warning is a consumer-protection alert that compliance teams should log, screen against customer and counterparty records, and use to reinforce due diligence and fraud-prevention controls.