FSA says sorry after 400 firms hit by £250 fine blunder

13 August 2010

The Financial Services Authority has apologised after it mistakenly sent out emails to 400 firms telling them they faced a £250 fine for overdue regulatory returns. The regulator said that it had meant to send out a reminder to firms whose regulatory return deadline was soon approaching but due to an administrative error sent the wrong email. Yesterday around 400 firms, including advisers, received an email saying their regulatory return was overdue and they would be charged an administrative fee of £250. The email read: ‘Your firm has overdue regulatory return(s) which have not yet been submitted and therefore is in breach of its reporting requirements. Please check Gabriel now to identify what return(s) are due to be submitted by your firm. As we mentioned in previous correspondence with you, your firm will be charged an administrative fee of £250.' An FSA spokeswoman said: ‘We email all our regulated firms when there are deadlines coming up. It was an administrative error, the wrong message was emailed.’ She added that once the error was realised all the firms affected were sent a follow up email to clarify the situation and apologising for the mistake. Published by CityWire