At an awareness session on the Settlement Procedure conducted by the Financial Services Commission (the “Commission”) on the 12 April 2022, the Chief Executive of the Commission stressed that the Settlement Committee is not a ‘whitewashing’ instance and that settlement discussions might take place in parallel with any investigation, inquiry or referral to the Enforcement Committee which have already started. This means that, if the Settlement Committee is not satisfied with the representations of a licensee, the normal enforcement process will be pursued potentially with harsher sanctions than what would have been settled for.

The awareness session was aimed at shedding light on the practical application by the Commission of its Settlement Framework published, on 11 December 2020. The Settlement Framework sets out a method and procedure under which timely and proportionate enforcement outcomes can be achieved in suitable cases by engaging with the settlement committee of the Commission (Settlement Committee).

Read the full article written by Vipin Jeerakun and Neelesh Kowlesser, Associates at BLC Robert.