Only 18 people have received 'prohibition orders’ from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and the number of regulatory 'dawn raids' has fallen to a nine-year low in the past year, according to the City firm of RPC.

The firm has noticed that 25 people who received so-called prohibition orders from the FCA in 2015/16, with the figure peaking at 72 in 2010, when the FCA was called the Financial Services Authority. The figures for 2009 and 2008 were 65 and 42. The firm does not, however, think that this bespeaks a weakening of the FCA's resolve to force firms to observe its rules, saying instead that it is the result of a significant toughening of its approach to misconduct since 2008.

Richard Burger, a partner at RPC, believes that the FCA’s habit of punishing individuals rather than institutions – to which it gives the Orwellian term 'constructive deterrence' – seems to be changing financiers' behaviour for the better. As well as a reduction in the number of Prohibition Orders in 2016/17, research by RPC earlier this year found that the number of dawn raids by the FCA had fallen to a nine-year low in 2016.

Many thousands of less-senior financial service workers will become subject to the FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime soon, and Burger exects this to help the regulator's enforcemet effort. The SM&CR, introduced in March 2016, makes individuals responsible for "conduct and competence" failures and is a minefield of fines and other penalties. It has thus far only applied to senior leaders at the larger firms.

Burger has stated: "The new SM&CR will put many more individuals working in financial services onto the FCA's radar. The FCA’s ‘constructive deterrence’ business plan relies on holding virtually everyone, not just senior managers, to account. SMCR and its conduct rules will cover most financial services staff in some way. We may well see more behavioural change next year as a result.

"There is always a lag between the commencement of an enforcement investigation and a public outcome. Seeking the prohibition of an individual is not a step taken lightly by the FCA. Under the FCA's new enforcement process, the whole of the FCA investigation is subject to strict legal scrutiny before meaningful settlement discussions begin with an individual.”