A report critical of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), compiled by a cross-party group of UK MPs, has described the regulator as “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst”. The group calls for a no-tolerance policy in relation to a lack of integrity, the establishment of a supervisory council to examine the effectiveness of the FCA, changes in funding and the overhaul of the appointment of the body’s senior leadership team. The report is based on written testimony from 175 respondents collected over two-and-a-half years. These include whistleblowers, regulators, employees and victims.
The FCA has been the subject of a series of recent independent criticisms. A spokesperson for the FCA, which did not receive the full report prior to its publication, commented: “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.”
Among other criticisms, the report states that the FCA too frequently fails to carry out its functions. The report will be presented to Parliament today. It has been compiled by The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services, a group made up of 30 MPs and 14 members of the House of Lords.
Current and former FCA staff Members also claimed that the regulator had a “defective culture” in which “errors and inaction” were “too common”. One former FCA employee described it as “the worst staff culture I have ever experienced in nearly 40 years”. Another current employee alleged that they had “tried to raise serious and challenging questions” but that they had been “criticised, bullied and sidelined”. Some current and former employees suggested that individuals who challenged a top-down “official line” were “bullied and discriminated against, or even managed out”
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