FCA vows to take action faster amid jump in whistleblower reports
The UK’s financial regulator has said it is “closing reports faster” after receiving more whistleblower reports than ever during its latest financial year.
The Financial Conduct Authority said it had received 1,131 reports in the 12 months to end March, a small increase on last year and a jump of 8 per cent on five years ago, adding that it was “receiving more whistleblowing reports than ever.”
The watchdog told the Times it had acted 908 times against firms in response to the reports, of which more than half led to regulatory action and the majority of the rest informed its “wider work”. This included enforcement action, writing to visit a firm and ordering an official review.
Sarah Smart, joint executive director for enforcement and market oversight, said: “We’re receiving more whistleblowing reports than ever, and they’re making a real impact.
“The intelligence we receive helps us take action, shape our wider work and deliver on our strategic priorities of fighting crime, helping consumers, supporting growth and becoming a smarter regulator.”
The rise in reports comes after the FCA pledged to improve the confidence of whistleblowers following a survey which found many were “extremely or somewhat dissatisfied” with the watchdog because they “did not feel that there had been enough dialogue with them to ensure that their concerns had been understood.”
The regulator vowed to provide whistleblowers with more detail on what has been done with the information provided, or reasons for taking or not taking action.
“We are strengthening the training of our whistleblowing team to improve our initial conversations with whistleblowers so we get to the heart of their concerns and to ensure that when whistleblowers are reporting to us in stressful circumstances, we are able to recognise this and respond appropriately,” the FCA said.
“We are improving our processes to ensure that the teams outside the whistleblowing team who are assessing disclosures submit any follow-up questions for the whistleblower as early as possible.
“Where the assessing teams conclude that the FCA cannot progress the whistleblower’s disclosure, we will aim to tell the whistleblower earlier, and therefore manage their expectations better.”