FCA Bans Former Beauforce Manager Howard Duckett Over Dishonesty Findings

The Financial Conduct Authority has prohibited Howard Roland Duckett from working in financial services after a High Court ruling found he lied and used fabricated evidence to deny his role as a company director.

The FCA has banned Howard Roland Duckett, a former senior manager at debt management firm Beauforce Corporation Ltd, from all regulated financial services roles after finding he demonstrated a serious lack of honesty and integrity. The High Court separately disqualified Mr Duckett from acting as a company director for 10 years, with that order taking effect on 4 December 2020 after being made on 13 November 2020.

The figures show a single FCA prohibition order issued against Mr Duckett, backed by court findings that he failed to maintain adequate records while a director of an unrelated company and repeatedly lied during proceedings — including relying on fabricated evidence to deny he had ever held a directorship. The FCA also found he failed to disclose his director disqualification to the regulator, as he was required to do.

The ban is total. Mr Duckett can no longer perform approved senior management functions of the kind he held at Beauforce Corporation Ltd, a debt management firm that was itself subject to FCA action over client money and supervision concerns — and which was required to stop operating and return client money to clients.

For anyone using debt management services, the case is a reminder that the FCA does act on governance and honesty failures, even where the underlying conduct involved a separate company. Customers of such firms have protections under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and the FCA’s register allows consumers to check whether individuals are approved to work in regulated roles.