A gaggle of MPs and Peers have revealed a scathing report on the UK’s foremost monetary regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Describing it as “incompetent”, they are saying the FCA is “too often failing” to carry out its features and are calling for it to be overhauled.
The regulator has been closely criticised by a number of impartial evaluations lately.
The FCA didn’t see the complete report forward of publication however a spokesperson informed the Financial Times: “We sympathise with those who have lost out as a result of wrongdoing in financial services, however we strongly reject the characterisation of the organisation.”
“We have learned from historic issues and transformed as an organisation so we can deliver for consumers, the market and the wider economy,” it added.
The reportdue to be presented in Parliament later on Tuesday, was put together by a cross-party interest group and is based on written testimony from 175 respondents collected over two and a half years.
They included whistleblowers, victims of scams and current and former employees of the regulator.
The report concluded the FCA was “incompetent at finest, dishonest at worst”, that its actions were “sluggish and insufficient” and that its leaders were “opaque and unaccountable”.
It said the FCA had failed to properly investigate and act on information provided by whistleblowers and it said a transformation programme undertaken by the regulator had “not labored”.
The report was carried out by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services, made up of 30 MPs and 14 members of the House of Lords.
Current and former FCA staff said the regulator had a “defective culture” in which “errors and inaction” have been “too common”.
A former FCA employee told the parliamentary group they had experienced “the worst workers tradition I’ve ever skilled in practically 40 years”.
One current FCA staff member said they had tried to raise “critical and difficult questions” but they were “criticised, bullied and sidelined”.
Those who challenged a top-down “official line” on any given issue were “bullied and discriminated towards, and even managed out”, said some current and former employees.
The suggested reforms – some of which will require legislation – include:
- Introducing a no tolerance policy for a lack of integrity
- Establishing a supervisory council to review the FCA’s effectiveness
- Changing how the FCA is funded
- Overhauling the way the FCA’s senior leadership team is appointed.
The report comes after a series of scandals in which financial services firms have been accused of mistreating consumers and small businesses, and the FCA has been “blamed for doing too little too late – or nothing” to forestall wrongdoing, stated Bob Blackman, co-chair of the group.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9z332j4npo