A regular round-up of actions against industry miscreants and permissions by regulators to firms, funds and other entities.

Financial Conduct Authority

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched proposals to help customers make effective comparisons of the service levels available for personal current accounts and business current accounts, the FCA said in a statement.

The FCA proposes to require firms, who offer personal current accounts and business current accounts, to publish service information about:

- How long it takes to open an account and have features of the account working, including overdraft facilities.
- How long it takes to replace a lost, stolen or stopped debit card.
- How long it takes to give someone access to a personal current account under a power of attorney.
- How and when customers can carry out various transactions, including making payments or cancelling a cheque, and whether 24-hour help is available.
- The number and type of major operational or security incidents.

The proposal will allow consumers to easily access and compare informtion. It will also be available for use by comparison services and others. In turn, the FCA expects the proposals to drive increased competition between firms to offer improvements in service quality.

Permissions:

Flynt

Digital wealth manager Flynt has been given a banking-license from the Swiss watchdog FINMA, the firm said in a statement. It also said that the firm has now become the first Swiss fintech company to obtain a banking-license from FINMA and operates now under the name Flynt Bank AG.

The resolution was registered at the Commercial Register of the Canton of Zug on 21 July 2017 and will be published in the next days.

The banking-license will allow Flynt the required independence to delve into the world of wealth management, working with private and institutional clients, such as entrepreneurs and family offices.

Punishments:

Societe Generale

French bank watchdog ACPR has fined Societe Generale € 5 million ($5.8 million) for a number of shortcomings in its controls for preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism, Reuters has said.

The sanction followed a 2015 inspection of the bank, ACPR said in a French-written statement.

ACPR fined BNP Paribas €10 million last month for insufficient anti-money laundering controls.