A group of MPs and peers have published a scathing report on the UK’s main financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Calling it “incompetent”, they say the FCA “often fails” to carry out its duties and is calling for its reinstatement.
The regulator has been heavily criticized by several independent reviews in recent years.
The FCA had not seen the full report before publication but a spokesman said Financial Times: “We sympathize with those who have lost out as a result of wrongdoing in financial services, however we strongly reject the organization’s characterization.”
“We have learned from historical issues and changed as an organization so that we can deliver for customers, the market and the wider economy,” he added.
ReportIt is to be tabled in Parliament later on Tuesday, based on written testimony from 175 respondents gathered by a cross-party interest group and collected over two-and-a-half years.
They included whistleblowers, victims of scams and current and former employees of the regulator.
The report concluded that the FCA was “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst”, that its actions were “slow and inadequate” and that its leaders were “vague and unaccountable”.
It said the FCA had failed to properly investigate and act on information provided by whistleblowers and said a turnaround program launched by the regulator was “not working”. happened”.
The report was commissioned by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services, comprising 30 MPs and 14 members of the House of Lords.
Current and former FCA staff said the regulator had a “flawed culture” in which “errors and inaction” were “all too common”.
A former FCA employee told a parliamentary group that he experienced “the worst staff culture I have experienced in nearly 40 years.”
A current FCA staff member said he had tried to raise “serious and challenging questions” but had been “criticised, bullied and brushed aside”.
Some current and former employees said that those who challenged the top-down “official line” on any issue were “bullied and discriminated against, or even managed. “.
The proposed reforms – some of which would require legislation – include:
- Introducing a zero-tolerance policy for lack of integrity
- Establishment of a Supervisory Council to review the effectiveness of the FCA
- Changing the way the FCA is funded
- Overhauling the way the FCA’s senior leadership team is appointed.
The report follows a series of scandals in which financial services firms have been accused of mistreating consumers and small businesses, and the FCA has been asked to “work too late or something” to prevent wrongdoing. “Not doing it,” said Bob Blackman. Chair of the group.