FCA fines BancTrust CEO £99,600 for disclosure failures

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined BancTrust CEO Carlos Fuenmayor £99,600 for failing to disclose three separate matters to the regulator. Fuenmayor did not report a 2019 suspension and penalty from the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), nor the freezing of his bank accounts in Venezuela shortly before November 2019.

Fuenmayor has referred the FCA's Decision Notice to the Upper Tribunal, contesting the fine. He argues that disclosing the Venezuelan actions, which he claims were reprisals for his opposition to the Maduro regime, risks undermining freedom of expression. His legal team contends that a corrected disclosure due to a misunderstanding of extraterritoriality does not meet the threshold for negligence under English law.

The FCA asserts that Fuenmayor was negligent in his omissions, which prevented the regulator from fully assessing his fitness and propriety. The watchdog identified the Venezuelan account freeze through open-source checks in 2023, underscoring its focus on foreign regulatory disclosure for senior executives in the UK financial sector. Fuenmayor, who has led BancTrust since 2018 and is a British citizen, stated the U.S. penalty related to a technical breach and did not prevent him from working after his suspension ended.