FCA bans mortgage director but revokes £80,000 fine

Amir Khan is the sole owner, director and employee of Sovereign. Through Sovereign, he arranged regulated mortgage contracts for retail customers on a non-advised basis.

In a 2013 Decision Notice, the FCA concluded that Mr Khan had acted without integrity by knowingly submitting a personal mortgage application to a lender through Sovereign in 2009 which contained false and misleading information about his income, including in the form of false payslips.

The FCA said that Mr Khan also failed to act with due skill, care and diligence in performing his significant influence function at Sovereign, in breach of Statement of Principle 6, by failing to take adequate steps to counter the risk that Sovereign might be used to further financial crime.

Mr Khan referred elements of the FCA's Decision Notice to the Tribunal, and also challenged the size of the financial penalty.

The FCA's decision was upheld by the Tribunal in 2014, however Mr Khan provided "verifiable evidence of serious financial hardship".

The FCA that had it not been for his reduced financial circumstances, it would have imposed the financial penalty.