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PwC and EY were fined £4.9 million and £4.4m respectively for multiple breaches during their audits of LCF’s accounts in 2016 and 2017. Oliver Clive & Co received a £42,000 fine for its 2015 audit of LCF.

LCF garnered £237m from investors, promising high returns via minibonds. Its collapse in 2019 sparked investigations into regulatory oversight.

Jamie Symington, FRC deputy executive counsel, said in relation to all three audits: “In each of these three audits the auditors failed to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement through understanding LCF’s business.

“These breaches are made considerably more serious by the fact that all of the auditors knew they were auditing an expanding business which was engaged in selling unregulated financial products to retail investors, and that potential investors might place reliance on the clean audit opinions.”

EY admitted shortcomings in its 2017 audit and pledged to learn from mistakes. A spokesperson the firm said: “Our 2017 audit of London Capital & Finance fell short of our standards and for this we apologise.

“We have taken significant steps to address the issues identified and we are committed to learning from our mistakes.”

A PwC spokesperson said: “We are sorry our work in 2016 did not meet the standards expected and that we expect of ourselves.

“In the eight years since this work took place, we have made significant changes to our audit methodology, policies and guidance.”