Prohibition Order

Fines on firms do little to stop an individual who moves on to another employer. A prohibition order removes that route. It can be total, banning all regulated activity, or partial, banning only senior or specific functions. Terms may be fixed or permanent, and firms are told not to employ the person in the barred role. Typical grounds are dishonesty, serious breaches of conduct rules, convictions for financial crime, or a finding that the person lacked the competence to do the job. The order is usually published, and in some countries stored in a public register that employers check at hiring. Closely related are director disqualification, which bars someone from company directorship through the courts. Employers check registers for these orders when hiring, which keeps a banned person from simply moving to another firm.

A branch manager forges customer signatures to hit sales targets. After an investigation, the regulator finds him not fit and proper, and issues a prohibition order barring him from any role in a bank for ten years. His former employer reports the matter and the order is published on the regulator's register.