On 15 June 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a Consultation Paper (CP26/19) in relation to proposed changes to its Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual (DEPP).

Background

The DEPP sets out how the FCA makes enforcement decisions and calculates financial penalties, including a five-step process for calculating the appropriate financial penalty. The FCA last updated key thresholds in 2010. It therefore wants to update the DEPP to keep its policy current and is proposing a small number of amendments to the DEPP to account for inflation, better reflect its existing practice, increase the flexibility for its decision making, and to reflect its powers to regulate cryptoassets.

Summary of proposed changes

The proposed changes to the DEPP include the following:

  • Market abuse: Updating the FCA’s minimum initial disciplinary level for serious market abuse committed by individuals from £100,000 to £150,000.
  • Deterrence for wealthier individuals: Clarifying the FCA’s ability to increase penalties on individuals for deterrence, having regard to their wealth, even where their relevant income was material. The change is intended to make clear that the FCA may increase a penalty in all cases where it may not act as a deterrent given an individual’s income or net assets.
  • Penalties for individuals – relevant income: Clarifying how the FCA treats deferred income when relevant to penalty calculation, in line with recent Upper Tribunal decisions.
  • Serious financial hardship (SFH) thresholds: Updating the income and capital thresholds for individuals’ SFH assessment. The FCA also proposes some other minor SFH-related changes.
  • Settlement decision-makers: Revising the composition for the FCA’s settlement decision-making process where cases are referred from Market Oversight (MO) for investigation. The FCA believes this will enable it to make better and faster decisions in cases referred from MO while still complying with independence requirements.
  • Cryptoasset market abuse regime – consequential amendments: Extending the FCA’s penalty framework to cover cryptoasset market abuse and reflect new powers under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026.

Next steps

Feedback on the proposals in CP26/19 is requested by 10 August 2026. The FCA will then decide whether to make the proposed changes and update the DEPP if it proceeds.