7/7/2026 4:37:00 PM | 7 minute read

Notice in a nutshell: FCA proposes to fine individual £99,600 for failure to disclose overseas investigation, sanction and enforcement action

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Katie Stephen

Co-Head of the Contentious Financial Services Group

Rebecca Dulieu

Senior Associate

Get in touch

Katie Stephen

Co-Head of the Contentious Financial Services Group

Rebecca Dulieu

Senior Associate

On 11 June 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a Decision Notice that has been issued to Carlos Ricardo Fuenmayor, the CEO and sole controller of BancTrust Investment Bank Limited (BancTrust), imposing a financial penalty of £99,600 in connection with his failure to disclose to the FCA:

that, in 2017, he had become the subject of an investigation by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA);
the sanction imposed on him by FINRA in 2019 following that investigation; and
that, in 2019, the Venezuelan National Financial Intelligence Unit (UNIF) had frozen bank accounts belonging to him, his Venezuelan companies and the directors of those companies.

Mr Fuenmayor is challenging the decision by referring it to the Upper Tribunal.

More details on the FCA’s findings are set out in the table below but our key takeaways are as follows.

Key takeaways

Disclosure obligations are ongoing and proactive: The FCA expects approved persons and senior management function (SMF) holders to promptly and voluntarily notify it of information which could be material to its assessment of fitness and propriety, including investigations, sanctions or penalties imposed by overseas regulators. These are ongoing obligations which require senior managers to keep them in mind day-to-day and proactively consider developments in terms of whether they amount to a potential trigger. In other words, notification should be one of the items on a senior manager’s mental agenda, particularly when unexpected or unusual events occur or circumstances arise even if they are outside the UK or the relevant process has not yet reached a conclusion.
Err on the side of caution: Mr Fuenmayor's principal justification for not disclosing the UNIF action was his belief that the freezing of accounts was politically motivated and therefore not relevant to BancTrust's UK regulatory status. The FCA rejected this argument. It is for the FCA to determine the materiality and weight to attach to matters which fall to be disclosed. The Decision Notice makes clear that the freezing of accounts by an overseas government body represents action that the FCA would reasonably expect to be told about, regardless of the individual's personal view of the motivation behind it.
Location is no excuse: Mr Fuenmayor argued that he was based in the US and not directly involved in BancTrust's day-to-day activities when the FINRA investigation commenced. The FCA acknowledged this but concluded that Mr Fuenmayor should, at the very least, have sought advice as to whether the FINRA investigation was information of which the FCA would reasonably expect notice.
Read regulatory application forms carefully: The applications submitted to the FCA in 2018 and 2019 for approval for Mr Fuenmayor to perform controlled functions, and the notification form submitted in 2021, contained express declarations that the information provided was accurate and complete. Cross-references to guidance notes made clear that matters relating to overseas regulators must be disclosed. Mr Fuenmayor admitted during his interview with the FCA that he submitted the second application without fully reading the form, stating: "I did not read it carefully enough". The lesson is clear: individuals must read application forms and accompanying guidance in full before signing and should not rely on others to ensure all relevant information is included and correct, even where forms are submitted by the firm.
Heed advice from the compliance function: BancTrust's Head of Compliance prepared a draft notification that included disclosure of the UNIF action and expressly advised Mr Fuenmayor that the UNIF action should be disclosed. Mr Fuenmayor overruled this advice and removed the UNIF action before submitting the form. The FCA considered that Mr Fuenmayor should have given more weight to his compliance officer's concerns and that disclosure ought to have been made.

Key information

Decision maker	Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC)
Firm / individual	Mr Carlos Ricardo Fuenmayor, CEO and sole controller of BancTrust Investment Bank Limited
Related material	The Decision Notice has been referred to the Upper Tribunal
Sanction	Financial penalty of £99,600 (based on 10% of his relevant income during the c.5 year Relevant Period)
Settlement	No - the FCA and Mr Fuenmayor failed to reach agreement at Stage 1 and accordingly no settlement discount was applied
Provisions	APER Statement of Principle 4 ("An approved person must deal with the FCA…in an open and cooperative way and must disclose appropriately any information of which the FCA…would reasonably expect notice"); COCON 2.2.4R Senior Manager Conduct Rule 4 ("You must disclose appropriately any information of which the FCA…would reasonably expect notice")
Relevant Period	28 December 2017 to 20 January 2023
Factual Findings	Mr Fuenmayor has been approved by the FCA to hold controlled functions and then senior management functions at BancTrust since 15 October 2012. He became CEO of BancTrust in the summer of 2018 and is also the firm's 100% shareholder and sole controller. The FINRA investigation and sanction In 2015, FINRA began investigating potential violations of US federal securities laws in relation to a FINRA-authorised firm with which Mr Fuenmayor was associated ("Firm A"). On 26 April 2017, FINRA interviewed Mr Fuenmayor as part of this investigation. On 28 December 2017, FINRA wrote to Mr Fuenmayor's legal adviser confirming that he was now the subject of the investigation, with a preliminary determination to recommend disciplinary action against him for actively engaging in the management and conduct of the securities business of Firm A without being registered. In 2018, BancTrust submitted two applications seeking approval for Mr Fuenmayor to perform various controlled functions. The "Regulatory Matters" section on the second form asked whether the individual had ever been investigated by any regulatory body and the guidance notes confirmed extra-territorial matters needed to be disclosed. Both applications contained a declaration that the information provided was accurate and complete and that Mr Fuenmayor had read and understood the declaration (and, in the case of the second application, the notes and his Code of Conduct responsibilities). Neither the FINRA investigation nor the preliminary determination was disclosed. On 4 June 2019, FINRA imposed on Mr Fuenmayor a 15-month suspension from association with any FINRA member firm and a $20,000 financial penalty. On 15 October 2019, BancTrust submitted an application to the FCA requesting additional permissions. The application was signed and submitted by Mr Fuenmayor, who had also reviewed it. It made no mention of either the FINRA investigation or the FINRA sanction. The UNIF action On 14 November 2019, all of Mr Fuenmayor's companies in Venezuela were the subject of without-notice special inspection visits by UNIF, as part of its assessment of compliance with money laundering laws. Shortly before these visits, UNIF froze the local currency bank accounts of Mr Fuenmayor, his Venezuelan companies, and the directors of those companies. BancTrust did not update the application to include details of the UNIF action. Mr Fuenmayor stated that he did not disclose the UNIF action because he believed it was politically motivated and there had been no formal communication from UNIF providing reasons for the freezing. The Disclosure Notification (Form D) On 22 December 2021, following discussions with BancTrust's compliance staff and after counterparties had independently become aware of the FINRA sanction, Mr Fuenmayor submitted a notification to the FCA disclosing the FINRA sanction but omitting any reference to the UNIF action (despite a compliance officer having included the UNIF action in the draft provided to Mr Fuenmayor and having advised him that it required disclosure). The FCA's discovery of the UNIF action On 5 January 2023, the FCA independently became aware of the UNIF action through a Spanish-language newspaper article discovered via routine open-source checks. When the FCA wrote to BancTrust seeking clarification, BancTrust's response (which Mr Fuenmayor helped draft) did not mention that accounts had been blocked. On 1 March 2023, following further specific enquiries by the FCA, BancTrust confirmed the blocking of accounts. Representations and the FCA's response Mr Fuenmayor made a number of representations in response to the Warning Notice which included reference to the following: the FINRA investigation concerned a technical, low level violation; Mr Fuenmayor was not living or working in the UK at the time; the violation did not restrict his ability to work in the US securities industry after the suspension; disclosure to the FCA was late due to a misunderstanding of the extra-territorial application of the FCA's disclosure requirements. Once the error was realised Mr Fuenmayor made a full and unprompted disclosure; the FCA was wrong to present Mr Fuenmayor’s conduct in relation to the FINRA matters as five separate failings; information about the FINRA settlement was already publicly available via FINRA's website and it was not unreasonable to assume that no separate disclosure obligation to the FCA existed; the FCA's application forms at the time were poorly designed and lacked clear guidance on overseas regulatory matters; Mr Fuenmayor did not dismiss the views of his compliance officers; compliance officers advise, directors decide; he was correct to determine that no disclosure obligation existed in respect of the UNIF action because the FCA could not lawfully take into account acts of reprisal by an unrecognised regime. The FCA rejected all the representations and key findings included: regardless of where Mr Fuenmayor was living or working, as a person approved by the FCA he was obliged to comply with the FCA's rules; a reasonable person with Mr Fuenmayor's background and position would have both read and understood the extra-territorial application of the FCA's disclosure requirements; the disclosure took almost four years to be made despite five opportunities to do so; the fact that information was publicly available did not absolve him of his obligation to disclose directly to the FCA; the UK Government's stance on the legitimacy of the Maduro regime did not negate Mr Fuenmayor's disclosure obligations; Mr Fuenmayor had rejected the concerns of the compliance officer who clearly advised that the UNIF action should be disclosed.
Failings	The FCA found that Mr Fuenmayor had failed to comply with the disclosure obligations (APER 4 and then SMCR 4) as a result of: failure to proactively disclose the FINRA investigation between 28 December 2017 and 22 December 2021 and the FINRA sanction between 4 June 2019 and 22 December 2021; failure to update the permission variation application following the UNIF action; failure to proactively disclose the UNIF action between 14 November 2019 and 20 January 2023.