Bankers and brokers accused of wrongdoing face investigations going back far longer as regulators are granted double the amount of time they previously had to look at allegations of market abuse and financial misbehaviour.
The Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority will from Thursday have as much as six years to bring disciplinary action against City professionals, giving the authorities much longer to conduct in-depth investigations into market scandals, such as Libor-rigging and foreign exchange manipulation.
Regulators had only three years to decide whether to bring a case against an individual, but the change, which brings City rules into line with the civil statute of limitations, means staff at banks could be hit with fines and bans long after any misbehaviour took place.