The UK’s financial regulator has apologised for its handling of the authorisation of collapsed peer-to-peer lender FundingSecure.
In a statement today, 3 June, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it accepted that it “should have done more during its assessment of the firm’s application for authorisation” and that it “apologised”.
“Specifically, we should have done more to understand that FundingSecure’s business model had changed, and that it had begun to offer property development loans,” it said.
Read more: FundingSecure administration “likely” to be extended further
“We should have also ensured FundingSecure had an approved person responsible for client money at the time it was authorised”.
In a letter sent to complainants, the FCA said it was upholding complaints relating to “failures by the FCA regarding the authorisation of [FundingSecure]” following an investigation and that it would pay up to £250 compensation.
P2P pawnbroker and property lender FundingSecure went into administration in October 2019 amid mounting concerns about defaults in its loan book.
Read more: FundingSecure administrators recover £23.5m as fee dispute continues
An administration report, filed at Companies House last week, revealed that its administration is likely to be extended again, having already been extended to October this year.
The report showed gross loan realisations between 23 October 2024 and 22 April 2025 amounted to £947,792.56, while total gross loan realisations to date were £53,696,023.92.
At the time of FundingSecure’s collapse, the City watchdog had been under scrutiny over its regulation of investment firms prior to their collapse.
Read more: FundingSecure goes into administration
