Mark Francis

Mark joined the FCA (then FSA) in 2009 with a focus on unauthorised business investigations and became Head of the Unauthorised Business Department in 2013. Mark led some of the department’s largest cases, dealing with many types of unauthorised investment schemes. Mark moved to Wholesale Enforcement in 2016 where he worked on a variety of enforcement investigations including insider dealing, market abuse and misconduct in wholesale firms. Mark became director of Wholesale and Unauthorised Business Investigations in 2018. In November 2024, Mark became the Director of Wholesale – Sell Side and in October 2025 Mark also became Director of the Specialist Directorate, which covers areas including financial crime policy and supervision, prudential regulation of firms and client asset rules.

Mark is a qualified accountant and spent 12 years in practice at BDO LLP before joining the regulator. During Mark’s career in practice, he specialised in forensic financial investigations, providing investigative and asset management expertise to a range of public and private sector clients.