The value of fines handed down by the Financial Conduct Authority has increased tenfold in a year.
An analysis of the FCA's enforcement database by law firm Clyde & Co showed fines dished out by the regulator so far this year have reached £229.4m, up from £22.2m in 2016.
But the amount of money levied through fines is still low compared to 2014, when £1.5bn was paid, and 2015, when £905m was handed over by misbehaving firms and individuals.
John Whittaker, partner at Clyde & Co, said: "A tenfold increase is significant but it's worth remembering that this is the second lowest year of fines over the past five years.
"It's certainly a far cry from the £1.5bn of 2014 but it will still be worrying senior executives. Especially because it appears that the regulator is continuing to place greater attention on individuals than in previous years.
"Recent regulatory changes, which are aimed at holding individuals to account for any behaviour that strays outside of the regulator's rule book certainly supports this trend."
Of the total, £436,000 was levied against individuals, while £229m was levied against companies.
This year there were eight fines against individuals out of a total 12, which means fines against individuals represented 67 per cent of the total.
This is a slight increase from the previous year when fines against individuals made up 64 per cent of the total number of fines.
Mr Whittaker said the senior managers regime has placed the onus on managers to take responsibility for their own actions and those of their staff.
He said: "Senior executives need to ensure they are clued up on the rules or they could face a hefty fine due to the activity of their staff."
Earlier this year the FCA published plans to extend the regime to the whole financial services sector, including advisers, next year.
The regulator has not yet set a date for when the rules will commence but it expects to publish final rules next year following a consultation which started in July.
Under the regime, anyone who holds a senior management function at an advice firm will need to be approved by the FCA and every senior manager will need to fill out a statement of responsibilities explaining what they are responsible for.
This will need to be approved by the FCA when it is first filled out and when there are changes to it.
The regime sets out a series of “prescribed responsibilities” which firms will need to give their senior managers, but these will not apply to some firms – including sole traders of firms – and larger firms will have more responsibilities.
damian.fantato@ft.com
