An All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) call for evidence report has found “very significant shortcomings” at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services launched its call for evidence about the FCA to improve its understanding of how the regulator is perceived.

It stated that the testimony received suggested there were significant shortcomings at the FCA, that it came across as an “opaque and unaccountable” organisation, it was slow to act, and “even slower to admit it had got things wrong and to change”.

A total of 175 respondents shared their testimony, with the APPG finding that the FCA was “widely seen as incompetent” and there was a “compelling consensus” among respondents that the regulator too often fails to perform its functions to a reasonable standard.

Furthermore, a “significant number” of respondents felt the FCA sometimes acts in bad faith, with some alleging that the regulator is “culturally and economically aligned” with banks and other large authorised firms, while others said it displayed a “lack of honesty and transparency” when called to account for its own decisions, actions, and inactions.

The report also stated that the FCA’s treatment of whistleblowers and their evidence was “alarming”, and that testimony from whistleblowers painted a “consistent picture of an organisation that fails properly to investigate and act on intelligence provided, and that fails to protect - and in some cases, actively harms - those who provide such information”.

Current and former employees depicted the FCA as having a defective culture that has got worse rather than better in recent years, in which errors and inactions were too common, there was little accountability, and those who challenged a top-down ‘official line’ on issues were bullied and discriminated against, according to the report.

It also found that there was a lack of transparency and accountability, and that the regulator’s recent ‘Transformation Programme’ had not worked.

The APPG said the degree of consensus across the testimony was “striking”, with recurring themes around slowness, inaction, biases toward firms, whistleblower mistreatment, opacity, and unaccountability.

On potential reforms, the report stated: “The Recommendations Panel believes that initial efforts should focus on executing operational, governance and accountability improvements within the current regulatory landscape.

“Many of these changes can be implemented by the FCA, while some reforms require legislation.

“However, the panel accepts that its proposals may not be implemented wholeheartedly or at all by the FCA, and that they may therefore fail; for this reason, it has also flagged up that in the event that the FCA fails to win the confidence of stakeholders, a fundamental reallocation of regulatory responsibilities may in time be required.”

It poses several reform recommendations, including the development and embracing of a consumer-centric mission statement, against which the organisation is tested and held accountable by a consumer oversight body.

The FCA’s reward and promotion system should be aligned with its professed objectives and values, according to the report, while recruitment policy should be developed that recognise ‘people are policy', a no tolerance policy for a lack of integrity should be introduced, and it should face up to the criticisms made of it by the public at large.

It added that government intervention would be required, and called for the establishment of a Financial Regulators’ Supervisory Council, which would conduct periodic reviews of the operational effectiveness of the FCA.

The report also suggested that the FCA’s immunity from civil liability to consumers should be removed, restrictions should be put in place on whether/when regulators join regulated firms, and vice versa, the “fundamental conflicts of interest” within the FCA’s objectives should be stripped out, and a change in the way the FCA is funded, among other things.

“Above all, we believe that the testimony received by the call for evidence clearly demonstrates that the FCA is not performing as it should and does not enjoy stakeholder confidence,” the report stated.

“Under such circumstances, there must be a risk that levels of misconduct and poor customer outcomes in UK financial services are higher than they should be, and that levels of trust in the industry at home and abroad are being negatively impacted, with consequent impacts on transaction levels and access to overseas markets.

“Against this background, we urge both the FCA leadership and government to implement the recommendations of this report with alacrity and vigour.

“Should that not happen, we fear that more high-profile misconduct and regulatory failure scandals will occur, causing further deterioration in the standing and fortunes of the industry. A window of opportunity exists now to prevent that descent. But it requires prompt and decisive action, not excuses and prevarication.”

Commenting in response to the report, an FCA spokesperson said: “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."

This article originally appeared in our sister publication Wealth Investment News.

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