The Upper Tribunal has upheld the FCA decision that Craig Donaldson and David Arden, former chief executive (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) of Metro Bank (Metro), were knowingly concerned in a breach of the Listing Rules.
July 2025 update
Following the Upper Tribunal’s judgment, the FCA has issued its final notices to Mr Donaldson[1] and Mr Arden[2].
The Upper Tribunal has decided that fines of £167,325 and £100,950 should be imposed on Mr Donaldson and Mr Arden, respectively.
As a company listed on the stock exchange, Metro provided quarterly financial results to the market. In these, Metro regularly reported on its prudential position, including the Risk Weighted Assets (RWA) on which its regulatory capital requirements are based.
On 24 October 2018, Metro published an unqualified statement of the Metro's RWA, and the capital ratios based on it. Metro knew at the time of a material error with the data, but did not inform the market. When amended numbers were published in January 2019, there was a 39% drop in Metro’s share price.
The FCA fined Metro £10,002,300 for breaching the Listing Rules in December 2022.
Mr Donaldson as CEO and Mr Arden as CFO at Metro at the time of the announcement were aware of the material error and involved in the decision to publish the incorrect information.
Steve Smart, executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said:
'Investors make decisions based on information shared by listed companies. They must be able to trust it's accurate. Mr Arden and Mr Donaldson allowed information they knew to be wrong to be published.'