FSA can shorten suspensions after rule change

At a Board meeting earlier this month, members agreed to amend the scheme to apply to the length of suspension periods. Previously, the FSA could only apply a financial discount, usually 30%, to fines imposed on firms if they fully co-operated with the regulator during its investigations. DB Mortgages, fined £840,000 last week for irresponsible lending practices, had qualified for a 30% discount under the scheme. Without it, the penalty would have been £1.2m. It was one of a raft of amendments made at the meeting on 24 February. The FSA says authorised firms must not pay financi...