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Broker loses appeal bid against FCA ban for integrity breaches

Hannah Uttley
Written By:
Posted:
August 7, 2015
Updated:
August 7, 2015

A mortgage broker has lost his bid to overturn a ban that prevents him from carrying out any regulated activity as an authorised person.

The Court of Appeal refused Ghanshyam Batra’s application for permission to appeal against a May 2014 Upper Tribunal ruling which upheld the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) decision to ban the former broker.

Batra, the former director of Mortgage 10, a mortgage and general insurance broker that is now dissolved, was found by the original ruling at the Upper Tribunal to have lacked integrity according to evidence submitted in a number of mortgage applications which contained inaccurate information to two lenders.

The Upper Tribunal said that Batra was reckless as to the truth of statements he made to the mortgage lenders and had failed to be open and cooperative with the lenders on another point. The court also said he never intended to comply with one of the mortgage offer conditions, or, at the very least, was unconcerned as to whether he did so or not.

Despite this, the Upper Tribunal held that the FCA had not established that Batra had been deliberately dishonest when deciding to ban him.

Batra was not open and co-operative in his dealings with the FCA, the Upper Tribunal said, and in particular the broker either knowingly or recklessly gave the FCA incorrect information when the regulator interviewed him.

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The ban placed on Batra will prevent him from carrying out any function in relation to any authorised person, exempt person or exempt professional firm, in relation to any regulated activity.

Batra has been handed a Final Notice by the FCA and his prohibition took effect on 17 July.