{"id":18910,"date":"2024-11-26T05:37:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T05:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18910"},"modified":"2024-11-26T05:37:11","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T05:37:11","slug":"mps-brand-uk-financial-regulator-incompetent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=18910","title":{"rendered":"MPs brand UK financial regulator 'incompetent'"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A group of MPs and Peers have published a scathing report on the UK’s main financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).<\/p>\n

Describing it as “incompetent”,\u00a0they say the FCA is “too often failing” to perform its functions and are calling for it to be overhauled.<\/p>\n

The regulator has been heavily criticised by several independent reviews in recent years.<\/p>\n

The FCA did not see the full report ahead of publication but a spokesperson told the Financial Times<\/a>: \u201cWe sympathise with those who have lost out as a result of wrongdoing in financial services, however we strongly reject the characterisation of the organisation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe have learned from historic issues and transformed as an organisation so we can deliver for consumers, the market and the wider economy,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a>, due 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.<\/p>\n

They included whistleblowers, victims of scams and current and former employees of the regulator.<\/p>\n

The report concluded the FCA was “incompetent at best, dishonest at worst”, that its actions were “slow and inadequate” and that its leaders were “opaque and unaccountable”.<\/p>\n

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 worked”.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Current and former FCA staff said the regulator had a \u201cdefective culture\u201d in which \u201cerrors and inaction” were “too common\u201d.<\/p>\n

A former FCA employee told the parliamentary group they had experienced “the worst staff culture I have ever experienced in nearly 40 years”.<\/p>\n

One current FCA staff member said they had tried to raise “serious and challenging questions” but they were “criticised, bullied and sidelined”.<\/p>\n

Those who challenged a top-down “official line” on any given issue were “bullied and discriminated against, or even managed out”, said some current and former employees.<\/p>\n

The suggested reforms – some of which will require legislation – include:<\/p>\n