Departing FCA regulator Clive Adamson admits: We perhaps went too far
Departing City watchdog Clive Adamson yesterday told MPs that a botched media leak from earlier this year was the “most serious incident” the regulator has ever faced.
Adamson, who is to step down as director of supervision at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in January, was answering questions at the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) about the events in March that led to a newspaper article which caused a crisis among insurance firms.
He added that the FCA “perhaps went too far” with an aggressive approach to the financial sector.
Andrew Tyrie MP took the unusual move of telling the committee that he had received largely positive feedback from the industry after Adamson’s departure was announced.
“What I got back was: ‘He’s one of the best of them, he actually knows what’s going on in there’,” said Tyrie. “And he’s a very tough regulator. He has a grasp of what it means from the other end, from the business end.” Chief exec Martin Wheatley and chairman John Griffith-Jones are expected to be called to the TSC in the new year.