Finance
UK financial watchdog fines H2O's former deputy CEO, places ban
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 25, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 25, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
The FCA fined H2O's ex-deputy CEO £1M and banned him from finance for misleading conduct during an investigation into illiquid bond investments.
(Reuters) -Britain's Financial Conduct Authority on Friday imposed a fine of 1 million pounds ($1.34 million) on Jean-Noel Alba, the former deputy CEO of French asset manager H2O, and banned him from the financial services industry following his conduct during an investigation.
H2O in 2019 became the subject of market and regulatory concern over its investments in illiquid bonds issued by several companies related to German entrepreneur Lars Windhorst, who owns investment firm Tennor.
FCA said that during its investigation, Alba provided false and misleading statements and documentation to the regulator.
"Alba asked junior colleagues to create minutes, including records and minutes of committees, where no formal meetings had taken place," the watchdog said.
"Alba also provided due diligence materials, such as investment research, to the FCA that had been created years after the investments had been made, when he had claimed they were produced at the time."
In August 2024, H2O voluntarily offered to pay 250 million euros to investors trapped in funds since 2020 and said it would shut its UK regulated operations, escaping a fine for failing to make sufficient checks on risky investments.
($1 = 0.7448 pounds)
(Reporting by DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
Jean-Noel Alba was fined 1 million pounds by the Financial Conduct Authority for providing false and misleading statements during their investigation.
H2O became the subject of market and regulatory concern due to its investments in illiquid bonds related to German entrepreneur Lars Windhorst.
Alba asked junior colleagues to create minutes for non-existent meetings and provided due diligence materials that were created years after the investments were made.
In August 2024, H2O offered to pay 250 million euros to investors and announced it would shut its UK regulated operations.
The article was reported by Dhanush Vignesh Babu in Bengaluru and edited by Shailesh Kuber.
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