Isle of Man Financial Services Authority
32 FOI requests | Full disclosure rate: 34.4%
The Freedom of Information requests reveal an Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (FSA) that is selectively transparent: willing to release aggregate statistical data on breaches and penalties (e.g., cases 366433, 2434901) but deeply resistant to disclosing the internal policies, supervisory strategies, and decision-making frameworks that drive those outcomes. A recurring theme is the use of exemptions to withhold enforcement guidance (369534, 801665) and historical inspection data (1391861), often labeling such requests as 'vexatious' or claiming data is not centrally collated. This pattern suggests a regulatory body that prioritizes operational confidentiality over public accountability regarding its supervisory approach, particularly in the wake of major scandals like the Premier Group liquidation (979981).
Key Cases
Case 979981 — This case represents a critical failure of transparency regarding public funds, as the FSA refused to disclose any information on taxpayer-funded liquidation costs for companies linked to the Premier Group, a major financial scandal, despite the high public interest in how public money is spent on private failures.
Case 1391861 — The refusal of this request as 'vexatious' is significant because it highlights the FSA's use of administrative hurdles to avoid releasing historical supervisory data (red/amber/blue action points), effectively blocking an analysis of long-term regulatory effectiveness.
Case 366433 — This is a key disclosure case where the FSA provided a comprehensive table of AML/CFT breaches from 2011-2017, offering rare insight into the scale of regulatory non-compliance and the distinction between civil penalties under the Code versus the Financial Services Act.
Case 522934 — This case touches on high-level corporate governance and potential conflicts of interest, specifically questioning whether the FSA Chair or former Chair held beneficial ownership in a specific holding company, with the specific data withheld under absolute exemption.
Case 4339704 — The disclosure of total monetary settlement amounts for staff disputes, while withholding specific reasons and counts, reveals the financial cost of internal employment conflicts, a metric often hidden in public sector organizations.
Related FOI Stories
Enforcement Opacity and Policy Withholding — #369534, #361135, #801665, #1391861
Financial Accountability and Liquidation Costs — #979981, #1900373, #2177473, #4674149
Staff Remuneration and Governance Transparency — #2320789, #4045073, #4339704, #4450241, #2057361
AML/CFT and Regulatory Statistics — #366433, #2434901, #4970414
All (32)
All information sent (11) ·
Some information sent but part exempt (6) ·
Some information sent but not all held (5) ·
No information sent - all held but exempt (5) ·
Vexatious request (1) ·
Some information sent and exceeds appropriate limit (1) ·
Not upheld (1) ·
Not required to fulfill request (1) ·
Information not held (1) ·
| Date | Title | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-05 | Location of actuarial work for new PCC/LP insurer | All information sent |
| The requester asked for the location of actuarial work for a new Protected Cell Company or Limited Partnership awaiting insurer authorisation. The Authority responded that no such entities are currently awaiting authorisation, as the one from 2022 has since been approved, and detailed their internal actuarial staffing. | ||
| 2025-10-01 | FoI Request - Isle of Man Financial Services Authority | Some information sent but not all held |
| A Freedom of Information request was submitted to the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority for five years of monthly statistical data on licensing, enforcement, and internal operations. The Authority responded with partial information, providing specific counts for application statuses and designated business activities, but did not disclose all requested data such as staff numbers or expenditure breakdowns. | ||
| 2025-05-20 | Further information on Note 18 of the FSA 2024 Accounts | Some information sent but part exempt |
| The request sought confirmation that Note 18 of the FSA 2024 Accounts referred solely to Montpelier (Trust and Corporate) Services Limited and asked for the court appointment date of Grant Thornton Limited. The FSA confirmed the reference was solely to Montpelier but withheld the specific appointment date, citing that the information is already publicly accessible on their website. | ||
| 2025-02-18 | Staff bonuses and performance related pay | Some information sent but not all held |
| The requester asked for details on staff bonus and performance-related pay schemes, including specific payment lists for the last six tax years. The Isle of Man Financial Services Authority confirmed it does not operate a formal bonus scheme but disclosed the existence of a discretionary performance-related incentive for 2023/24, while withholding individual payment data due to privacy exemptions. | ||
| 2024-12-31 | Settlement Agreements | Some information sent but part exempt |
| The requester asked for the number, reasons, and compensation figures of Settlement Agreements issued by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority since September 2021, along with a template. The Authority disclosed total monetary settlement amounts by year but withheld specific counts, reasons, and templates due to data protection exemptions regarding personal information. | ||
| 2024-12-03 | Staff Remuneration | Information not held |
| The requester asked the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority for staff remuneration data based on a Central Government report, specifically regarding 'DfE' stationed employees. The Authority responded that it does not hold this information as it is not a Central Government employer and suggested contacting the Department for Enterprise instead. | ||
| 2024-08-08 | Organisational chart or "Family Tree". | Some information sent but part exempt |
| The requester asked for a detailed organizational chart, staff names, job titles, and salary maxima for the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, including indirect staff. The Authority provided organizational structures and salary bands but withheld individual staff names and titles for non-key personnel citing personal data exemptions. | ||
| 2024-02-23 | Licenceholder Statistical Information for the years 2000 to 2022 | All information sent |
| 2023-01-31 | Mortgage applications for rental properties | Some information sent but not all held |
| 2022-12-22 | UK FCA Insurance Intermediaries registered with the FSA | All information sent |
| 2022-11-14 | Internet cameras | All information sent |
| 2022-09-09 | Unpublished Responses to FOIA Requests | All information sent |
| 2022-05-10 | Designated Business civil penalties charged | All information sent |
| The request sought details on civil penalties charged under the Designated Business Act, including amounts, dates, and breached sections. The authority disclosed a breakdown of penalties imposed from 2019 to 2022, noting that most were £5,000 fines for unregistered business activity, with some mitigated or waived due to exceptional circumstances. | ||
| 2022-03-09 | Job titles | All information sent |
| The request sought a list of job titles and salary maxima for all staff at the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority. The authority provided the salary bands for most roles but withheld specific maxima for unique positions and the Chief Executive to prevent individual identification. | ||
| 2022-02-01 | Isle of Man Bank Failures | Some information sent but not all held |
| 2022-01-06 | Advocates Disciplinary Tribunals | Some information sent but part exempt |
| The request sought total monetary costs for specific Advocates Disciplinary Tribunal proceedings and a historical range from 2000 to 2021. The Authority disclosed external legal costs for the 2020/07 reference but withheld pre-2011 data due to the temporal scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2015. | ||
| 2021-10-27 | Appointment of Karen Badgerow | Some information sent but part exempt |
| The request sought details on the appointment panel for Karen Badgerow as CEO of the Isle of Man FSA, her links to KPMG Canada, and her referees. The authority disclosed the names of the sub-committee members and the ratification date but withheld information regarding KPMG links and referees under a breach of confidence exemption. | ||
| 2021-09-08 | Suspension of Class 8 license | All information sent |
| A request was made to the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority to confirm the effective date of the temporary suspension of CDAX Ltd's Class 8 license. The authority disclosed that the suspension became effective on 13 May 2021. | ||
| 2021-07-13 | Fees paid to Joint Liquidators | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| A request was made for information regarding fees paid to Joint Liquidators for the liquidation of Montpelier (Trust and Corporate) Services Limited. The Isle of Man Financial Services Authority refused to disclose the information, citing statutory exemptions under the Financial Services Act 2008. | ||
| 2021-05-04 | Printing paper cost. | All information sent |
| The requester asked for the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority's annual spending on printing paper and ink to support a paper-reduction initiative. The authority disclosed the specific costs for paper and internal printing for the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, and 2020/21, noting that ink costs are volume-based and included in the printing figures. | ||
| 2020-07-29 | Statistics on Visit Report action points | Vexatious request |
| The requester asked for statistics on red, amber, and blue action points from supervisory visit reports for Trust and Corporate Service Providers from 2011 to 2020. The Isle of Man Financial Services Authority refused the request as vexatious because the data is not centrally collated and the colour-coding system was discontinued in mid-2019. | ||
| 2019-09-26 | Taxpayer funded liquidations of companies linked to Premier Group IoM | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| A request was made for details on taxpayer-funded liquidation costs for companies linked to the Premier Group Isle of Man, but the Financial Services Authority refused to disclose any information. | ||
| 2019-04-23 | Enforcement policy and supervisory approach | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| The applicant requested internal documents detailing the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority's current supervisory approach and enforcement policies produced since March 2018. The Authority refused to disclose the information, citing that the documents are held in draft form pending finalization. | ||
| 2019-03-25 | Security and data protection related incidents | Not required to fulfill request |
| The requester asked for a breakdown of security and data protection incidents reported to the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority since 2015, but the Authority refused the request due to the substantial effort required to collate non-centralized data and lack of reporting obligations for certain sectors prior to 2019. However, the Authority voluntarily disclosed that 13 cyber-security incidents were reported in 2018 with no recorded losses. | ||
| 2019-03-04 | OCCUPATIONAL PENSION DEFINED BENEFIT SCHEMES | All information sent |
| The request sought the number of Isle of Man registered Occupational Defined Benefit Pension Schemes with over 50 members and their respective membership counts. The Authority disclosed that there are 20 such Authorised schemes, provided specific membership figures for 19 Domestic schemes, and noted that data for 39 Recognised UK schemes was not held. | ||
| 2018-09-03 | Oversight of designated business | Some information sent but not all held |
| A request was made for statistical data regarding on-site inspections and reporting under the Designated Business (Registration and Oversight) Act 2015 for the periods of 2017 and 2018. The Isle of Man Financial Services Authority responded with a partial disclosure, stating that some information was sent but not all was held. | ||
| 2018-07-09 | FSA Board Members on the Beneficial Ownership register | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| The requester asked if FSA Chair Lillian Boyle or former Chair Geoff Karran were beneficial owners of RL360 Holding Company Limited. The FSA confirmed neither held reportable investments in the company, though the specific beneficial ownership data was withheld as absolutely exempt under the Beneficial Ownership Act 2017. | ||
| 2018-03-13 | IOMFSA Enforcement Procedures | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| The requester asked for internal IOMFSA enforcement policy documents comparable to the UK FCA's guides, but the authority withheld the information citing a future publication exemption while providing links to existing public overviews and a flowchart. | ||
| 2018-03-09 | Breaches of AML/CFT Code | All information sent |
| The request sought annual statistics on AML/CFT Code breaches, investigations, prosecutions, and regulatory actions from 2011 to 2017. The Authority disclosed the data in a table, noting that civil penalties are not imposed under the Code itself but referenced a separate penalty under the Financial Services Act 2008. | ||
| 2018-02-14 | MONEYVAL Fifth Round Evaluation Report December 2016 | Not upheld |
| The requester sought internal FSA documents and policy guidance regarding changes to regulatory and enforcement approaches following the December 2016 MONEYVAL report, specifically concerning the shift from civil to criminal prosecutions. The provided response text acknowledges the request scope but cuts off before disclosing the actual information or stating the final outcome of the search. | ||
| 2017-11-27 | Staff salary information | Some information sent but part exempt |
| 2017-08-10 | Powerhouse Insurance Report | Some information sent and exceeds appropriate limit |