FCA fines deputy CEO £1m for misleading regulator

The former deputy CEO of asset manager H2O, Jean-Noel Alba, has been fined £1,049,500 by the FCA and banned from the financial services industry.

An FCA investigation found that Alba lacked integrity because he misled the regulator.

Between April 2015 and November 2019, H2O failed to carry out proper due diligence on investments relating to the Tennor Group of companies owned by Lars Windhorst, or companies he introduced.

The investments were high risk and hard to sell, leaving investor money trapped. In 2024, the FCA agreed that H2O would pay those investors €250 million.

During the investigation into H2O, the FCA says Alba provided false and misleading statements and documentation when he was the principal point of contact with the FCA.

Alba asked junior colleagues to create minutes, including records and minutes of committees, where no formal meetings had taken place. Alba also provided due diligence materials, such as investment research, to the FCA that had been created years after the investments had been made, when he had claimed they were produced at the time.  

The FCA previously announced H2O would pay €250 million to affected investors following its investigation. The firm is no longer authorised in the UK.

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Senior leaders in financial services need to act with integrity. Mr Alba fell well short of those basic standards. 

“He has no place in the industry. This ban and substantial fine should serve as a warning to others that if you mislead the FCA, you will face the consequences.”