FINAL NOTICE

FCA
Reference
Number:
MAA00004



153251






ACTION

1.
For the reasons given in this Final Notice, the Authority hereby takes the following

action against Mark Anthony Hurst Ainley (“Mr Ainley”):

a.
impose a financial penalty of £150,000 on him, pursuant to section 66 of the

Act, in respect of his contravention of Statement of Principle 1 in his role as an

approved person performing controlled functions at his authorised business,

Mark Anthony Financial Management (“MAFM”);

b.
withdraw his approval to perform controlled functions in relation to MAFM

pursuant to section 63 of the Act, and to make an order, pursuant to section 56

of the Act, prohibiting him from performing any function in relation to any

regulated activity carried on by any authorised person, exempt person or

exempt professional firm, on the grounds that he lacks honesty and integrity

and he is not a fit and proper person. The Prohibition Order takes effect from 18

October 2013.

SUMMARY OF REASONS

2.
The financial penalty referred to at paragraph 1.1(1) is considered to be necessary and

proportionate because of the seriousness of Mr Ainley’s misconduct in respect of his:

(1)
personal involvement in the completion and submission of regulated mortgage

applications (on behalf of himself and on behalf of a customer of MAFM),

which contained false and misleading income information; and

(2)
making false and misleading statements to the Authority to create the

impression that he was not directly involved in the completion and submission

of his own mortgage application, and also that he had no reason to doubt the

veracity of personal and financial information given to him by at least one of

his customers in support of their mortgage applications.

3. The withdrawal of Mr Ainley’s approval to perform controlled functions in relation to

MAFM and the Prohibition Order are also considered to be necessary and proportionate

for the reasons set out in paragraph 2.1 above and also because of his:

(1)
personal involvement in the submission of six applications for unregulated

mortgage contracts in his name which contained false and misleading

information about his income (there were seven buy-to-let applications in total

and all seven applications contained false and misleading information about

the true purchase prices of the seven properties), and

(2)
making false and misleading statements to the Authority about the extent of

his involvement in the establishment and use of a short term drawdown

facility to fund purported deposits in respect of the purchase of the seven

properties.

4. The Authority gave Mr Ainley a Decision Notice on 5 July 2011, which notified him that

the Authority had decided to take the actions referred to at paragraph 1 above.

5. On 1 August 2011, Mr Ainley referred the Decision Notice to the Tribunal.

6. On
13
July
2012
the
Tribunal
published
its
written
decision

7. The Tribunal concluded that Mr Ainley had failed to act with integrity, in breach of

Statement of Principle 1 and that he was not fit and proper. The Tribunal determined that

a significant financial penalty should be imposed on Mr Ainley, his individual approval

in relation to MAFM should be withdrawn, and the Prohibition Order should be made

preventing him from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity carried

on by any authorised person.

8. A further Tribunal hearing was held on 22 November 2012 to determine the level of the

financial penalty to impose on Mr Ainley. The Tribunal, in a written decision dated 7

Anthony-Ainley-v-FSA-Penalty.pdf, concluded that it was appropriate to impose a

penalty of £150,000 on Mr Ainley.

9. On 14 February 2013, Mr Ainley submitted an application to the Court of Appeal for

permission to appeal against the Tribunal’s decision. On 4 October 2013, the Court of

Appeal refused Mr Ainley’s application on the grounds that it was totally without merit,

and made an order that Mr Ainley may not request the decision to be reconsidered at an

oral hearing.

DEFINITIONS

10. The definitions below are used in this Final Notice.

1. the “Act” means the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000;

Page 4 of 5

2. the “Authority” means the body corporate formerly known as the Financial Services

Authority and renamed on 1 April 2013 as the Financial Conduct Authority;

3. the “Decision Notice” means the decision notice dated 5 July 2012 issued by the

Authority to MAFM;

4. “MAFM” means Mark Anthony Hurst Ainley trading as Mark Anthony Financial

Management;

5. “Mr Ainley” means Mark Anthony Hurst Ainley;

6. the “Prohibition Order” means the prohibition order imposed on Mr Ainley and

taking effect on 18 October 2013;

7. “Statement of Principle” and “APER” means the Authority’s Statements of Principle

and Code of Practice for Approved Persons; and

8. the “Tribunal” means the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber).

PROCEDURAL MATTERS

Decision maker

11. The Final Notice is given to Mr Ainley at the direction of the Tribunal and in accordance

with section 390(2) of the Act.

Manner of and time for payment

12. The Tribunal has directed that Mr Ainley must:

a.
pay £50,000 towards the £150,000 penalty within one month of the date of the

Final Notice (by 18 November 2013), and

b.
pay the balance of £100,000 during the 12 months following the date of the

Final Notice (by 18 October 2014).

If the financial penalty is not paid

13. If all, or any, of the financial penalty is outstanding on 18 October 2014, the Authority

may recover the outstanding amount as a debt owed by Mr Ainley and due to the

Authority.

14. Sections 391(4), 391(6) and 391(7) of the Act apply to the publication of information

about the matter to which this notice relates. Under those provisions, the Authority must

publish such information about the matter to which this notice relates as the Authority

considers appropriate. The information may be published in such manner as the

Authority considers appropriate. However, the Authority may not publish information if

such publication would, in the opinion of the Authority, be unfair to you or prejudicial to

the interests of consumers.

15. The Authority intends to publish such information about the matter to which this Final

Notice relates as it considers appropriate.

Contacts

16. For more information concerning this matter generally, contact Matthew Hendin at the

Financial
Conduct
Authority
(direct
line:
020
7066
0236
or
by
email

matthew.hendin@fca.org.uk ).

Tom Spender

Enforcement and Financial Crime Division