Theodor van Sante acts for the FCA in successful defence of costs application

On 30 July 2026, the Upper Tribunal handed down judgment in BriceAmery Capital Ltd v Financial Conduct Authority [2026] UKUT 288 (TCC). 3VB’s Theodor van Sante acted for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in successfully resisting the applicant’s claim for costs of more than £1 million.

The applicant, BriceAmery Capital Ltd (BCL), sought an order for costs following the FCA’s discontinuance of enforcement proceedings.

The FCA had previously issued a Decision Notice cancelling BCL’s Part 4A permission for non-compliance with a Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) award. During the course of the Tribunal proceedings, however, evidence obtained by the FCA established a compelling case that the FOS award had been procured by identity fraud. In light of that evidence, the FCA discontinued the proceedings and withdrew the Decision Notice.

BCL subsequently applied for its costs, arguing that the Decision Notice had been unreasonable and that the FCA had acted unreasonably in defending and conducting the proceedings.

The Upper Tribunal dismissed BCL’s application in its entirety. It accepted the FCA’s submissions that the Decision Notice had been reasonable on the information available to the FCA at the relevant time and that the FCA had not acted unreasonably in defending the proceedings up to the point at which it discontinued them.

The Tribunal also found that BCL had repeatedly failed to tell the FCA the truth and held that, in any event, it would not have been in the interests of justice to award costs in favour of a party that had withheld material facts from its regulator.

The full judgment is available here.