Regulators sanction financial firms in Egypt and UK for misconduct

Regulators in Egypt and the United Kingdom have taken significant disciplinary actions against financial entities for misconduct.

In Egypt, the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has initiated criminal proceedings and suspended a consumer finance company following an investigation into a data breach. The company was found to have exploited parents' data to issue unauthorized loans for international school fees. As a result, the FRA has revoked the chief executive's license, imposed a one-month ban on new contracts related to school fees and club memberships, and applied penalties to several employees. The regulator successfully canceled the wrongful financial and credit liabilities attached to the affected parents.

In the United Kingdom, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed banning three former senior figures at Dolfin Financial (UK) Limited for operating a £35.5 million scheme designed to bypass UK investor visa rules. The scheme allegedly allowed at least 99 individuals to obtain visas by paying a £400,000 fee instead of the required £2 million investment. Former chief executive Denisz Nagy and former finance director Sanjay Maraj have been fined and banned from financial services, while co-founder Roman Joukovski also faces a proposed ban. The FCA found the scheme was deliberately designed to create a false impression of compliance with Home Office requirements.