According to the results of a Freedom of Information request by RPC, dawn raids carried out by the FCA fell by 60% last year to 8 for all of 2014 compared with 20 in 2013.
These dawn raids typically focused on boiler room operations in which high pressure sales tactics were being used to pressure investors into buying high risk shares or other investments.
RPC said there is a concern that while the FCA under Wheatley has been forced to invest heavily into major investigations such as Libor and Forex, many smaller scale, less systemic, financial crimes have been slipping through the net.
“It’s the smaller scale fraudsters who are breeching the perimeter, offering unregulated products, targeting those who’ve got small returns on their savings and pensions and are looking for more exciting products,” said Richard Burger, a partner at RPC.
“Surely that should be the target of regulators who are there to protect consumers.”
Wheatley resigned as chief executive of the FCA with effect from 12 September on Friday after being told by the chancellor George Osborne his contract as member of the FCA board would not be renewed when it came up early next year.
Wheatley’s interim replacement as chief executive of the regulator is Tracey McDermott who was, until January this year, the head of enforcement at the FCA.
His departure has been widely interpreted in the UK media as a sign by the government that it wants to put the era of “banker bashing” and ever increasing bank fines behind it.
Going forward Burger said: “I think the FCA should take the foot off the pedal from the banks in terms of direct enforcement action and focus more on the fraudster.”
