We may take enforcement action for failure to comply with directions given or requirements imposed under FSBRA or failures to comply with the provisions of other legislation such as the IFR or PSD2. We may also take enforcement action for failure to comply with the Competition Act 1998 and Articles 101/102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Certain decisions relating to these enforcement actions may need to be taken by the Enforcement Decisions Committee or the Competition Decisions Committee.
-
Document our enforcement decisions
-
Explain the purpose of the Enforcement Decisions Committee and the Competition Decisions Committee and how they work
-
Provide further information about their membership
Enforcement decisions
You can find out more about our enforcement decisions on our Enforcement cases page.
The Enforcement Decisions Committee
The Enforcement Decisions Committee, or EDC, is a committee of the Board. Its purpose is to take regulatory enforcement decisions for the PSR when a settlement cannot be reached.
The EDC currently has a pool of ten members, including the Chair and several Deputy Chairs, from which three-person panels can be drawn to consider cases.
Members of the EDC may be called upon to act as Settlement Decision Makers in enforcement cases. In the event that settlement is not reached, any EDC member who has acted as a Settlement Decision Maker is then be precluded from membership of the EDC panel considering the case.
Referral to the EDC
From time to time, when standards fall below what we expect, we may take enforcement action against a payment systems participant that has failed to comply with relevant legal requirements.
Where we have found that there is a compliance failure, and we consider that it should be sanctioned, but settlement (if appropriate in the circumstances of the particular case) cannot be reached, we will make a referral to the EDC. The EDC will determine whether to issue a warning notice in relation to the compliance failure and the appropriate sanction to be imposed. The payment systems participant has the opportunity to make representations to the EDC about the warning notice and proposed sanction.
Having considered any representations, the EDC will determine whether to issue a decision notice, in which it will set out its decision in relation to the compliance failure and appropriate sanction. The sanction may be to publish details of the compliance failure and/or impose a financial penalty.
While it is a committee of the Board, the EDC is separate from staff at the PSR who have investigated whether a compliance failure has occurred.
The Competition Decisions Committee
The purpose of the Competition Decisions Committee, or CDC, is linked to the competition powers we have under the Competition Act 1998 (CA98) and under Articles 101/102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The CDC currently has seven members from which three-person panels can be drawn.
How the CDC works
If we think that the behaviour of one or more parties in payment systems amounts to a breach of the CA98 (or the corresponding EU law provisions), we will issue a Statement of Objections.
Once a Statement of Objections has been issued, the CDC will consider whether or not the party or parties have breached the CA98. The party or parties who are addressees of any Statement of Objections will have an opportunity to make representations to the CDC.
If, having considered the addressees’ representations on the Statement of Objections, the CDC is minded to reach an infringement decision and impose a penalty, we will provide the parties with a draft penalty statement.
The CDC will have the final say whether an infringement decision is adopted, and whether any financial penalty and/or any directions are imposed on the party or parties concerned.
So, in summary, the CDC is a group of experts appointed to act as the decision-maker on whether, based on the facts and evidence before it, the legal test for establishing an infringement of competition law has been met and, where appropriate, on the level of the financial penalty to be imposed.
Like the EDC, the CDC is a committee of our Board, and its members will not have been involved in the investigation or in the decision to issue a Statement of Objections.
Membership of the EDC and CDC
The biographies of the current members of the EDC and CDC are shown below.
Alison was appointed Chair of the EDC in November 2024.
Before joining the EDC she practiced as a barrister in commercial law at 4 Pump Court, London for over 30 years.
Alison’s practice included a wide range of commercial law disputes but she specialised in the field of financial services and financial regulatory law providing advisory services and conducting litigation for and against a large number of commercial institutions, regulators and individuals in the UK and overseas.
Alison was appointed as a Senior Decision Maker for the Guernsey Financial Services Commission in 2018. She has also acted as a mediator in a range of commercial disputes for over 10 years and is a Bencher of the Middle Temple Inn of Court.
Outside of her legal practice, Alison has also held a number of positions including Chair of Clifton College, Trustee and Director of the National Executive of the CPRE, Trustee of the Bath Preservation Trust, Councillor for Bath and North East Somerset and Chair of the West of England Combined Authority Oversight and Scrutiny Committee.
Alison is also Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulatory Decisions Committee.
Margaret Obi joined the EDC as a Deputy Chair in May 2023.
Margaret is a former partner in a leading criminal defence practice. In 2014 she left private practice to become an independent legal consultant. She is currently a member of The Pensions Regulator’s Determinations Panel and in February 2023 she was appointed as the first Commissioner for Service Police Complaints. Margaret also sits as a Deputy High Court Judge.
Margaret’s other work includes advising lawyers in relation to investigations undertaken by the Serious Fraud Office and the National Crime Agency. She advises international legal teams defending allegations of war crimes in the International Criminal Court and advises on disputes between states in the International Court of Justice. She is an independent Legal Assessor and Legally Qualified Chair for various statutory bodies. She is also a trustee/director of Appeal, a charity and law practice dedicated to fighting miscarriages of justice and advocating for reform of the criminal justice system.
Margaret is also Deputy Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulatory Decisions Committee.
Edward joined the EDC as Deputy Chair in May 2023.
Before that he was a partner and consultant in the Disputes practice at Ashurst LLP. In his 48 years at the firm, he filled several roles including Head of Litigation and a member of the Board. His disputes practice involved acting for major corporate and financial institutions in challenging and complex situations; most recently focussing on regulatory investigations and proceedings involving financial institutions and their employees.
Edward is also a member of the Bank of England's Enforcement Decision Making Committee and, until the end of 2022, served as Chair of the City of London Law Society. He has a number of roles for charities.
Edward is also Deputy Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulatory Decisions Committee.
He has over 35 years of experience in payment systems, cards, treasury, transaction banking and fund management gained in UK and international financial services. He sits as a non-executive or independent member on a number of bodies.
Kevin is currently a non-executive Board member and the Chair of Audit, Risk & Governance Committee at Phone-paid Services Authority, non-executive Chairman of FundRock Management SA, Chair of the Advisory Committee of Form³ Financial Cloud and is an independent Board member and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Forum on the RGTS/CHAPS Board at the Bank of England. He was also on the inaugural advisory panel for the UK Payment Systems Regulator until mid-2015.
Kevin is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers and was with RBS for 35 years, where he was Global Head of Transaction Services until April 2014. He has a strong external profile as an industry expert and speaker on global transaction banking, payments and treasury/funds business and regulatory issues. He has represented RBS and the UK on a number of external bodies. He had direct involvement in the design and development of the UK’s Faster Payments service and became the inaugural Chairman of the UK Faster Payments Scheme in November 2011, a position that he held until 2013.
Philip Marsden joined the EDC & CDC in February 2016.
Caroline Ramsay is a Chartered Accountant with 20 years’ experience in insurance and investment management gained during her executive career in Finance and Audit. Caroline has previously been UK Chief Financial Officer for RSA and prior to that held a number of senior finance roles within Aviva, after spending the first 12 years of her career at KPMG where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1984.
In June 2015 Caroline retired from her role as Group Chief Internal Auditor, RSA Group, to develop her Non Executive portfolio. Caroline is the Non-Executive Audit Committee Chair at Aegon UK, a leading UK pensions provider. Caroline has been appointed as a member of the RDC and EDC.
Lesley is also a Panel Member of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a role she has held since July 2013. During her time at the CMA she has served on the panels for the energy and investment consultants market investigations. Lesley has over 30 years of experience working in the legal sector, including as a competition lawyer and partner at Hogan Lovells. She holds voluntary positions as Vice Chair of governors at St Albans School and is a member of the governing body of St Albans School for Girls.
Lesley is also a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Competition Decisions Committee Panel.
David has more than 30 years’ experience in regulated sectors as both an accountant and economist and is currently a Specialist Panel Member at the Competition and Markets Authority. He is also a member of the Consumer Panel at the Civil Aviation Authority. David started his career at PwC and has held roles at Ofcom and KPMG, before starting his economic consultancy company, DT Economics in 2016. During his career, he has advised over 150 operators and regulators on matters such as competition, regulatory pricing, cost modelling and customer engagement.
David is also a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Competition Decisions Committee Panel.
Simon is a competition law specialist, with over 35 years’ experience working at Hogan Lovells. After leaving Hogan Lovells in 2011, Simon became Deputy Chairman of the Competition Commission. He then became Inquiry Chair at the CMA, a role he held for four years. Whilst at the CMA, he chaired Phase 2 mergers inquiries, the payday lending market investigation and four Case Decision Groups.
Simon is also a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Competition Decisions Committee Panel.
Ulrike Hotopp was appointed to the CDC Panel in October 2023.
Ulrike has more than 25 years of experience as an economist working in Government and the private sector. For 16 years Ulrike was a member of the Government Economic Service. Her last role was as Director for Analysis and Chief Economist in DEFRA. In 2017 Ulrike founded LIVE Economics ltd, an economic consultancy company. Ulrike is a member of the Competition and Markets Authority’s merger panel, OfGEM’s Enforcement Decision Panel, and the Code Change Committee of the Market Operator for the non-household water market, MOSL. Ulrike teaches Economic Policy Analysis at the University of Kent.
Ulrike is also a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Competition Decisions Committee.
Claire Whyley was appointed to the CDC Panel in October 2023.
Claire is a highly experienced consumer research and policy professional. She specialises in consumer needs, decision-making and outcomes across a wide range of markets including financial and payment services, energy, water, retail, aviation, road and rail, and advertising. She brings particular expertise in outcomes-focussed regulation and consumer vulnerability. Claire is a member of the CMA Panel, Pay.UK’s End User Advisory Council, the FLA Lending Code Board, the Board of PHIN, and SSE’s Strategic Stakeholder Panel. Previous non-executive roles include membership of the FSA Consumer Panel, the Heathrow Consumer Challenge Board and Deputy Chair (South) of SGN’s Consumer Engagement Board. She was also Senior Fellow at the Personal Finance Research Centre, Head of Research and Policy at the Welsh Consumer Council and Deputy Director of Policy/Head of Consumer Futures at the National Consumer Council.
Claire is also a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Competition Decisions Committee.
