Welcome to the UKGI weekly regulation update service for Aviva ABC brokers

Context

The FCA has banned and fined the former CEO and MD of Blue Horizon Asset Management (‘BHAM’) for serious misconduct.  Paul Taylor, the former CEO, has been fined £489,000 and banned from working in financial services.  The former MD of the firm, Esmeralda Toni, has also been fined £121,200 for serious misconduct and banned by the FCA.  The FCA has concluded that they are not fit and proper persons.

Key points to note and next actions

• During his time at BHAM, Mr Taylor made misleading statements and falsified information during two separate attempted acquisitions.
• While attempting to acquire a UK bank, Mr Taylor falsified, or arranged to be falsified, documents claiming to be the owner of a bond portfolio worth approximately €200m. Ms Toni knowingly assisted Mr Taylor by making misleading statements to the bank and by helping falsify the documents. Mr Taylor knew, and Ms Toni understood that it was likely, that these statements and documents would be relied upon by the FCA and the PRA as part of their assessment for the proposed acquisition.
• Ms Toni was interviewed as part of BHAM’s internal investigation into the events. During the investigation, she denied providing misleading statements and the creation of false documents.
• On a separate occasion, Mr Taylor tried to acquire Reading Football Club. Mr Taylor made misleading statements, again falsely claiming to own the €200m bond portfolio to make the acquisition.
• The FCA found that Mr Taylor and Ms Toni acted dishonestly over an extended period. Their actions were intended to mislead BHAM colleagues, counterparties and regulators.
• Therese Chambers, Joint Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said that Mr Taylor and Ms Toni fell woefully short of the minimum expectation to be honest. She added that “they lied and lied again, first for commercial gain and then to cover their backs”.  Chambers also stated that “they have no place in our industry”.

Context

The FCA has banned a Senior Manager, Howard Roland Duckett, from working in financial services due to a serious lack of honesty and integrity.  Mr Duckett was a senior manager at Beauforce Corporation Limited, a debt management firm, and was approved by the FCA to perform the SMF3 (Executive Director) and SMF16 (Compliance Oversight) senior management functions. The High Court has disqualified Mr Duckett from acting as a company director for 10 years.

Key points to note and next actions

• The High Court found that Mr Duckett had failed to maintain adequate records while he was a Director of an unrelated company.
• The Court also found that Mr Duckett repeatedly lied and attempted to rely on fabricated evidence to distance himself from the company and deny that he was a director. This included falsely claiming that a fictitious individual was responsible for running the business.
• The FCA stated that Mr Duckett constructed an elaborate fiction in his attempt to avoid disqualification, and failed to tell the FCA about his disqualification.
• The FCA added that Mr Duckett “deserves to be banned from the industry”.
• In November 2025, the FCA restricted Beauforce Corporation Limited from carrying out any regulated activities. This means it cannot provide regulated debt advice or debt management services to consumers. The FCA also ordered the firm to stop accepting money from consumers and return any money held in its bank accounts.

Context

The FCA has banned Demetrios Hadjigeorgiou, the former director and chief executive officer (CEO) of SVS Securities Plc (SVS), a discretionary fund manager, from working in senior management positions in financial services and fined him £56,400.  Mr Hadjigeorgiou received an initial Decision Notice dated 25 April 2024, and the FCA took action against three individuals from SVS Securities for mistreatment of pension funds in June 2024.

Key points to note and next actions

• The FCA found that Mr Hadjigeorgiou failed to properly manage SVS and protect its customers’ interests.  While he was CEO, the firm invested customers’ money, including pension savings, in high-risk products while receiving significant payments from the companies that issued them.
• Mr Hadjigeorgiou also failed to challenge a decision that reduced the value of customers’ bond investments by 10% when they decided to sell them. This generated £359,800 for SVS at the expense of its customers. Customers were not clearly told about this reduction and, as a result, some lost part of their pension savings.
• The ban and fine were imposed after Mr Hadjigeorgiou settled his case with the FCA and withdrew his referral to the Upper Tribunal.
• The FCA found that Mr Hadjigeorgiou breached Statement of Principle 6 by failing to exercise due skill, care and diligence in managing the business of SVS. 

Context

The ICO has published an Outcomes report highlighting the key findings and shared themes from five consensual audits of police forces in England and Wales (including West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester) that are using overt facial recognition technology (FRT).  It covers audits conducted between June 2025 and March 2026. The report aims to help all police forces identify potential areas for improvement in their use of FRT.  This is accompanied by a blog by Emily Keaney, the ICO Deputy Commissioner for Regulatory Policy, in which she discusses balancing the risks and benefits of FRT and providing some headline detail about the main findings.

Key points to note and next actions

• The objective of the audits was to assess the extent to which the following are in place and operational for FRT within each force:
  • Accountability.
  • Policies and procedures.
  • Performance measurement controls.
  • Reporting mechanisms to monitor compliance.
• From the audit programme, the ICO noted several principal areas for improvement that featured in individual forces or across several of the participating police forces.
• The key audit findings are set out under the main themes identified, and each contains useful general commentary:
  • Governance and accountability, including oversight, document control, and defined roles.
  • Data mapping and records of processing.
  • Training and awareness.
  • Lawful bases.
  • Data protection impact assessments (DPIAs).
  • Data minimisation and limitation.
  • Contracts and providers.
  • Security management.
  • Accuracy and bias.
  • Individual rights.

Context

The ABI and PwC UK have published a new report which highlights how cyber insurance can further strengthen the UK’s resilience to cyber risk.  Alongside this, the ABI has also issued new guidance to help organisations better protect themselves against escalating and evolving cyber threats.

Key points to note and next actions

• The risk to organisations and the wider economy from cyber attacks is increasing.
• A survey from the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology found that 43% of UK businesses experienced a cyber breach or attack in the previous 12 months.
• Separate research suggests nearly a third of CEOs now feel their organisations are highly exposed to major cyber-related financial loss in the year ahead.

The new guidance is designed to help organisations of all sizes improve their cyber resilience.  Drawing on insurers’ experience and claims data, it identifies practical measures that can help organisations prevent attacks, reduce harm and recover more quickly when incidents occur. These include:

• Regular staff training to help employees recognise and avoid common threats 
• Reliable offline backups to ensure critical data can be restored as quickly as possible 
• Clear incident response plans to enable faster, more coordinated action during an attack 
• Multi-factor authentication to guard against unauthorised access to systems 
• Good logging and monitoring to spot suspicious activity early 
• Strong encryption to protect sensitive data 
• Supplier and third-party checks to reduce the risk of attacks via external systems 

The guidance also highlights the role cyber insurance can play in strengthening resilience. Alongside financial protection, insurers increasingly provide services such as threat monitoring, incident response support and system recovery.

The new joint ABI/PwC UK report explores how cyber insurance has developed into a key tool for managing cyber risk.  From novel ways to mitigate risk to advancing product design, the report highlights the cyber insurance market’s ability to adapt and innovate to this evolving threat and meet growing demand. It also identifies opportunities to further strengthen its contribution to UK resilience.

Its recommendations include improving understanding of cyber insurance through clearer policy language and stronger distribution, aligning more closely with wider cyber resilience initiatives and regulation, enhancing data sharing to support better risk management, and encouraging organisations to invest in higher levels of cyber preparedness.

Context

The ABI has announced the publication of a new report: “The Value of Commercial Insurance: Enabling growth, innovation, and resilience” which shows how insurers help businesses and organisations of all sizes and sectors manage risk, support jobs and unlock investment across the UK.  Commercial insurance plays a critical role in powering UK growth, innovation, and resilience, according to the report.

Key points to note and next actions

The report explores how commercial insurers have made major infrastructure projects possible, helped businesses recover from unexpected losses, enabled the transition to net zero, and protected the UK’s most iconic landmarks and events. Examples include cover for:

• Businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to multinationals, helping them to withstand and build resilience against a wide range of risks through public liability, buildings, or cyber insurance – this protects jobs and supply chains and facilitates investment across the entire economy. 
• Sustainability projects in the Teesside and Liverpool Bay areas, where the industry plays a vital role in the delivery of projects – from planning right through to long-term operations. The industry supports thousands of local jobs and is building investor confidence in net zero efforts.
• Festivals, Tower Bridge, and National Trust properties, offering protection against unique risks associated with large events and. historical landmarks – supporting regional growth and the wider tourism and entertainment industries.

The report also sets out recommendations for government and regulators to help commercial insurers play an even greater role in supporting growth and resilience across the UK.