UBS banker John wins FSA fine

John Pottage, the former chief executive of UBS’s UK wealth management business, has successfully challenged a £100,000 fine handed down to him by the watchdog, court documents have revealed. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) sought to punish him for failing to put in place proper checks on the desk he ran between 2006 and 2007. Mr Pottage, who remains an employee of UBS, was the first individual to be fined by the regulator for insufficient supervision of his own team. UBS was also fined £10m - later reduced to £8m - after the discovery of unauthorised trades in clients’ accounts. Mr Pottage was cleared of misconduct by the Upper Tribunal for Financial Services, which hears appeals against FSA penalties. “We think that the actions that Mr Pottage in fact took prior to July 2007 to deal with the operational and compliance issues as they arose were reasonable steps,” the Upper Tribunal said in its ruling. In response, the FSA said it accepted the decision, but would not be deterred from pursuing similar action against senior managers in the future.