The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been accused of failing to protect the identity of a whistleblower.
Georgina Halford-Hall, the CEO of WhistleblowerUK, a non-profit organisation, posted on LinkedIn this morning alleging that there has been a ‘steady stream’ of concerns about how the FCA handles whistleblowers.
Under UK law, whistleblowers are defined as a worker who reports wrongdoing, such as a criminal offence like fraud, miscarriages of justice and damage to the environment, among others.
Whistleblowers are protected under UK law. They must not be treated unfairly or lose their job if they reveal incidents of wrongdoing by an employer, as long as the case is judged as being in the public interest or against the law.
Part of the expectation is that law enforcement, government bodies and regulators will keep the identities of whistleblowers discreet. In the FCA’s own policy on whistleblowers, it states that whistleblower IDs will be kept a secret.
According to Whistleblower UK, the FCA has not been fulfilling whistleblower protection duties. Specifically, an FT article shared by Halford-Hall states that the FCA’s Chair, Ashley Alder, revealed an internal complainants name, violating the regulator’s whistleblower policy.
Halford-Hall’s LinkedIn post read: “I continue to see a steady stream of concerns about the FCA and the shoddy way that #whistleblowers are treated and live in continual hope that the scales will fall from the eyes of Parliament on the eve of the Lord Forsyth review.
“I encourage all FS WBs to engage in the call to evidence…
“In the meantime before you blow the whistle to the FCA take care and keep track of what they do with your concerns.”
Should these allegations be true, it does not convey the best image of the FCA to other prospective whistleblowers. GIven the body’s extensive regulatory remit, and an important one at that, this is not ideal.
The FCA is responsible for regulating the entirety of the British financial services industry, one which plays a key role in its economy – and most importantly is subject to a number of stringent rules.
If whistleblowers are not confident in the FCA’s protection, they may be less inclined to report potentially criminal and/or damaging behaviour which may occur in the industry, like cases of fraud, money laundering and insider trading, for example.
