FCA Fines DMBL Over Surveillance Failures in Its CFD Business

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has fined Dinosaur Merchant Bank Limited £338,000 for failing to maintain effective systems and controls to detect and report suspicious trading in its contracts for difference business.

According to the FCA, DMBL introduced a new order system in June 2024 that drove a sharp rise in client CFD trading. Between June and October 2024, trades with a corresponding asset value of about $3.05 billion were executed through the platform, but those orders were not captured and reviewed by the firm’s automated surveillance system. The regulator said DMBL identified the issue in October 2024 but did not properly fix the deficiencies until May 2025.

The case is a reminder that the FCA still sees CFD surveillance as a market-integrity issue, not just a back-office control problem. Even though DMBL has stopped selling CFDs, the enforcement message reaches far beyond one firm.

Why it matters

For traders, this does not change pricing or platform access overnight. What it does show is that UK regulators remain focused on whether CFD providers can detect abusive or suspicious trading properly in high-risk products.

What to watch next

Watch for follow-on FCA supervision or enforcement involving market-abuse controls at other leveraged-product firms. The regulator’s recent language suggests weak surveillance in CFDs will keep attracting attention.