FCA consults on changes to Penalty and Decision-Making Policies (CP26/19), proposing tougher market abuse penalties, wealth-based fines, and enhanced cryptoasset oversight; comments by 10 Aug 2026

The consultation proposes targeted changes to the Decision Procedure and Penalties Manual, including raising the minimum penalty for the most serious individual market abuse cases from £100,000 to £150,000, clarifying the treatment of deferred pay and shares, and updating financial hardship thresholds. It would also give the FCA more flexibility over settlement decisions and extend its penalty framework to the new cryptoasset market abuse regime…