FCA Final Notices: What They Are and What They Contain
An FCA final notice records the enforcement action the FCA has taken. This guide explains the process, contents, publication rules, penalty discounts and what firms can learn from published notices.
Michaela Clarke
Operations & Compliance Coordinator
Published 4 July 2022. Regulatory dates and requirements may have changed since.
On this page
The short answer
An FCA final notice is the formal notice, given under section 390 of FSMA, that records the enforcement action the FCA has taken against a firm or individual, such as a fine, ban or cancellation of permissions. It follows a warning notice and decision notice, after the 28-day window to refer the case to the Upper Tribunal has passed, and is usually published.
What firms should do now
5 steps to get ready
- 1
Read notices as evidence of expectations
Focus on the rules and Principles cited and the FCA's reasoning, not just the penalty amount.
- 2
Test your equivalent controls
For each relevant notice, check whether your own controls would have detected the failure described.
- 3
Respond to FCA requests on time
Keep replies complete and consistent with earlier correspondence, and escalate to senior management early.
- 4
Know the 28-day deadline
If you receive a decision notice, you normally have 28 days to refer the matter to the Upper Tribunal, so take legal advice immediately.
- 5
Plan for publication
Final notices are usually published in full, so prepare communications for staff, customers and counterparties.
An FCA final notice is the formal, statutory notice in which the FCA records the action it has decided to take against a firm or an individual, such as a fine, a ban or the withdrawal of authorisation. It is given under section 390 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) and, in most cases, published on the FCA website under section 391.
What is an FCA final notice?
The FCA uses a range of civil, regulatory and criminal powers. A final notice is the document that closes the regulatory process for an enforcement case. Section 390 FSMA says the FCA must give one when it takes the action set out in a decision notice that was not referred to the Upper Tribunal in time, or when it acts on the directions of the Tribunal or a court following a referral.
Content depends on the action. The notice must set out:
- for a public statement (a censure), the terms of the statement and how and when it will be published;
- for an order, the terms of the order and the date it takes effect;
- for a financial penalty, the amount, how and within what period it must be paid, and how it will be recovered if it is not (the payment period must be at least 14 days from the date of the notice); and
- in any other case, details of the action and the date it will be taken.
If a penalty is unpaid at the end of the stated period, the FCA may recover it as a debt.
How does a case reach a final notice?
The FCA's page on statutory notices issued by the Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC) describes the sequence:
| Stage | What it is | What the recipient can do |
|---|---|---|
| Warning notice | Issued when the FCA proposes enforcement action, such as a prohibition, a financial penalty, a public censure, or a suspension or restriction. | Make written or oral representations, or refer the matter directly to the Upper Tribunal through an expedited reference. |
| Decision notice | Follows if the FCA decides to act after considering any representations, or none are made. | Accept the decision, or refer it to the Upper Tribunal, normally within 28 days of being given the notice. |
| Final notice | If no reference is made within the 28-day deadline, the Enforcement team issues a final notice, which is usually published. | The action takes effect. If the matter was referred, the notice follows the Tribunal's outcome. |
The decision-maker matters. Under DEPP 2.3, if the recipient makes no response to a warning notice within the period it sets, the decision maker may treat the allegations as undisputed and give a decision notice accordingly. A person who has not previously responded can still refer that decision to the Tribunal. In settled cases, DEPP 2.5.2G notes that the decision to give a decision notice may be taken by settlement decision makers rather than the RDC.
Are FCA final notices published?
Usually, yes. Section 391 FSMA requires the FCA to publish such information about a decision or final notice as it considers appropriate. The FCA's RDC page says final notices are usually published in full. There are limits. The FCA may not publish information if, in its opinion, publication would be unfair to the person concerned, prejudicial to consumers, or detrimental to the stability of the UK financial system.
Publication of earlier stages is much more restricted. For most warning notices, neither the FCA nor the recipient may publish the notice or details of it, and a recipient may not publish a decision notice unless the FCA has first published it or its details.
The FCA collects penalties by year. Its 2026 fines page lists each final notice with the date, amount and a short reason, and links to the notice itself. When we checked on 20 October 2026, the page (last updated 1 October 2026) showed a running total of £19,542,773 for fines published in 2026. Recent entries involve individuals, with reasons that cite integrity, openness and conduct rules in sectors including wealth management and pensions.
How many final notices does the FCA issue?
The FCA's enforcement data for 2025/26 reports 30 final notices from Enforcement, against 37 in 2024/25. It counts final notices from its Threshold Conditions Team separately: 586 in 2025/26 and 863 in 2024/25, giving totals of 616 and 900 when added to the Enforcement figures. The two series measure different things, so it is worth checking which one a headline or statistic refers to. The FCA also notes that a single enforcement final notice may contain several outcomes.
Read each notice on its own facts: a notice about a firm's permissions is a different kind of case from a conduct fine against an individual.
How is the penalty set, and what does settlement do?
The FCA sets a starting penalty under DEPP 6.5 to 6.6 and then applies any settlement discount under DEPP 6.7. For standard settlements, a 30% reduction applies if agreement is reached during stage 1, which runs from the start of the investigation until the FCA understands the breach well enough to assess the penalty and has communicated that assessment, giving a reasonable chance to agree the amount. After stage 1 the standard discount is generally nil, although the Handbook keeps legacy bands of 20% and 10% for cases where stage 1 had started but no settlement had been agreed before 1 March 2017. Focused resolution agreements can attract between 15% and 30% in stage 1 where all facts are agreed but not all issues.
Two further points. Settlement agreements must state the discount applied, and the final notice records the settlement and the discount. And the settlement discount does not apply to disgorgement of any benefit, such as profit made or loss avoided (DEPP 6.5A.5G).
What should a firm learn from final notices?
Final notices are the FCA's published account of what went wrong and why it matters. They are useful if you read them as evidence of expectations rather than as headlines:
- Read the breaches, not the amount. The Principles for Businesses, Individual Conduct Rules and specific rules cited tell you what the FCA tested.
- Look at conduct after the failure. Notices often discuss co-operation, remediation and self-reporting as part of the penalty analysis.
- Map findings to your own controls. If a notice concerns a control failure, test whether your own control would have caught the same issue. Our responding to the FCA guidance and the FCA fines tool help you place cases in context.
- Take information requests seriously. Respond on time and consistently with the position you took in earlier correspondence. A skilled person review or other formal step may follow if the FCA has concerns; see our guide to the skilled person review.
How MEMA can help
MEMA helps firms respond to FCA information requests, supervisory concerns and enforcement contact. See our respond to the FCA service, or read how we approach FCA response and remediation.
Frequently asked questions
What does "final notice" mean?
It means the FCA's enforcement decision on a matter is final, in the sense that the time to challenge it has passed or the Tribunal or court process has concluded, and the action is being taken. The notice records that action.
What is the difference between a decision notice and a final notice?
A decision notice states what the FCA has decided to do and gives the recipient the chance to refer the matter to the Upper Tribunal, normally within 28 days. A final notice is given when the action is taken, either because no reference was made in time or because the Tribunal or a court has directed the outcome.
Where can I find FCA final notices?
The FCA publishes them on its website, and its yearly fines pages, such as the 2026 fines page, link to each notice. The notice is the primary source, so read it rather than relying on summaries.
Can an FCA final notice be kept private?
Not by choice. The FCA must publish such information as it considers appropriate. It must not publish where, in its opinion, publishing would be unfair to the person, prejudicial to consumers or detrimental to the stability of the UK financial system, and FSMA sets some further specific limits.
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