• FSA Library
  • Communication documents
    • Press releases
      • 2008

FSA/PN/111/2008
30 September 2008 

Mr Michael Worthington and Mr Darren Millington have today been censured by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to make sure that their business, Lifestyle Finance Limited (Lifestyle), had the appropriate compliance and sales procedures in place to ensure customers were given suitable mortgage advice.  Mr Worthington and Mr Millington were the executive directors and main shareholders in Lifestyle.

Their conduct was considered serious because they:

• failed to ensure the firm put in place appropriate written sales and compliance procedures and operate in accordance with them;
• did not complete a past business review within a reasonable timescale and therefore could not identify customers who might have been mis-sold mortgages and were entitled to redress;
• failed to ensure that their compliance department had sufficient experienced and qualified staff; and
• did not properly control spending on staff salaries and diverted much needed funds away from the compliance department and the past business review.

Margaret Cole, FSA director of Enforcement, said:

"It is the responsibility of a firm’s senior management to ensure that their business is meeting regulatory requirements.  It is important that senior managers take the conduct of past business reviews seriously and this includes applying appropriate resources to them.  Our action against Mr Worthington and Mr Millington should be a warning to others that approved persons will always be held to account whatever the status of their business."

Mr Worthington and Mr Millington have agreed not to hold any job with significant management influence in the future.

In deciding the appropriate action to take, the FSA took into account the fact that both individuals had been made bankrupt otherwise it would have fined Mr Worthington and Mr Millington £150,000 each.

Lifestyle was a mortgage broker specialising in the sub-prime market and went into administration in May 2007.

 Notes for editors

1. The Final Notices for Mr Worthington and Mr Millington include the background to the cases, the regulatory requirements contravened and the factors taken into account when deciding the appropriate enforcement action.  
2. Mr Worthington was the chief executive, and Mr Millington was a director, of Lifestyle Finance Limited.
3. Lifestyle Finance Limited was based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
4. The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and fighting financial crime.
5. The FSA aims to promote efficient, orderly and fair markets, help retail consumers achieve a fair deal and improve its business capability and effectiveness.