Report of a Group of Members of Parliament Britain’s city watchdog is “incompetent” after evidence from former and current employees emerged.
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) It oversees banks and other financial companies in the UK and has come under fire from witnesses compiled by an all-party parliamentary group of MPs on investment fraud and better financial services.
The FCA has come under increased scrutiny following a number of high-profile incidents, including the collapse of a number of controversial investments – which critics brand as scams and say the FCA should have looked into – And a whistleblower scandal.
It was set up after the financial crisis when its predecessor, the defunct Financial Services Authority, was seen as too weak. It now faces accusations that it is too close to the companies it is supposed to regulate.
The report, compiled by a group of 30 MPs and 14 peers, is based on 175 testimonials and concludes that “the picture painted is not pretty”.
According to the testimony, an employee of the watchdog said: “The FCA is an unprofessional and incompetent body – the culture is just that you are expected not to deviate from the message, that the ExCo [executive committee] And overall the FCA is apparently doing a ‘great’ job.
He also said the culture was “toxic”, risk-averse and based on “selfishness and self-preservation”.
A separate, former FCA worker criticized the company’s treatment of whistleblowers. He said a whistleblower visited his home at 20 minutes’ notice to “seize his work laptop and carry out search activities on all the whistleblower’s personal IT equipment”.
He said: “This attempted meeting was aggressive, and completely unexpected and uncalled for”.
MPs also heard from Ian Davies, who tragically took his own life after losing £618,600 after investing in the scam.
He invested in London Capital & Finance plc, which was described by the High Court last week as a Ponzi scheme after its £237m collapse.
A Ponzi scheme collects investors’ money and uses the new investment cash to simulate high returns to existing savers. But schemes of this nature require an unlimited supply of new money to continue, and as the new money dries up, they are unable to pay back and collapse.
Mr Davies said at the time: “I’ve asked the FCA what due diligence they did and they won’t tell me.”
He added that the FCA “needs a proactive system for reporting and identifying crime.”
“This has completely ruined my life! I’ve lost my life savings and have to sell my house that I was renovating. I have no income or time anymore because I have Instead of relying on your previous savings income, you will have to work overtime.
An FCA spokesman said: “We sympathize with those who have lost out as a result of wrongdoing in financial services, however we strongly reject the organisation’s characterization. We have learned from historical problems and We have transformed as an organization so that we can deliver for consumers, the market and the wider economy.”
Last month the watchdog’s chair was cleared of wrongdoing following an investigation into the handling of a whistleblower’s complaint.
A former employee claims that Ashley Adler failed to keep her identity a secret. Investigation revealed that he had tried to act on the complaint.
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