Our approach to enforcement

Summary

This is a JFSC guidance note setting out how the Commission approaches enforcement of regulatory requirements against firms and individuals it supervises. It explains the guiding principles and objectives behind enforcement, the referral and investigation process, available sanctions, and the option of regulatory settlement agreements. It is explanatory rather than a source of new rules, but it describes statutory powers that can create direct compliance obligations once invoked.

• Referral and investigation: Suspected serious misconduct may be referred from Supervision to the Enforcement division, which decides whether to open an investigation based on impact on JFSC's guiding principles; firms are given a formal note of investigation scope (except where disclosure would prejudice the investigation).
• Investigative powers: JFSC can compel production of documents or information, compel individuals to attend and answer questions, require a firm to appoint and pay for a professional to produce a report, and direct firms or individuals to take or refrain from specified actions such as preserving records.
• Decision-making and appeal: Sanctions follow a published decision-making process designed to be lawful, procedurally fair, proportionate and reasonable; a firm or individual sanctioned has a statutory right of appeal to the Royal Court of Jersey.
• Settlement route: Firms or individuals prepared to acknowledge misconduct may enter voluntary regulatory settlement discussions to resolve an investigation, resulting in acceptance of a specified sanction.
• Available sanctions: Public censure statements, civil financial penalties (calculated under a published methodology and explained in an accompanying public statement), restriction or removal of individuals from the sector, and licence revocation.
• Cross border and criminal cooperation: JFSC may refer suspected criminal conduct to Jersey's criminal authorities and may use its statutory powers to obtain and share information to assist other agencies and regulators investigating misconduct in Jersey or elsewhere.
• Deferred prosecution agreements: A firm pursuing a DPA with the Attorney General must still comply with its Code obligations to deal with the JFSC openly and co-operatively; JFSC will only take enforcement action following its own investigation, not solely on the basis of a judgment, statement of facts, or a DPA.

The note does not impose new periodic filing or reporting deadlines; instead it describes powers and processes that apply once JFSC opens an investigation or considers a sanction against a firm or individual.

Key obligations

• Firms and individuals under investigation must produce documents or information when compelled by the JFSC's investigating officers.
• Individuals may be compelled to attend before JFSC investigating officers at a specified time and place to answer questions.
• A firm required to appoint a professional (accountant, lawyer or regulatory consultant) to produce an investigation report must do so at its own cost.
• Firms or individuals directed by the JFSC to take or not take specified actions (e.g. preserving records or documents) must comply.
• Firms pursuing a deferred prosecution agreement with the Attorney General must continue to deal with the JFSC in an open and co-operative manner as required by the relevant Codes.
• A firm or individual who wishes to challenge an imposed regulatory sanction must exercise their statutory right of appeal to the Royal Court of Jersey.

Applies to

firms, individuals, financial service providers regulated by the JFSC