FCA whistleblowing reports fall 12%

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FCA whistleblowing reports fall 12%
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The Financial Conduct Authority received 243 new whistleblowing reports, containing 474 allegations in the first quarter of the year.

The regulator published data last week (October 7), which showed the number of whistleblowing reports between April and June 2022, received by telephone, email, online reporting form and post.

The reports fell around 12 per cent from Q1 when the regulator received 276 new whistleblowing reports, containing 540 allegations.

Most of the new reports in Q2 were via the online reporting form. 

The FCA said: “A whistleblower can choose to remain anonymous when making a report through any of our reporting options. 

“Whistleblowers need to feel comfortable when making a report so they can provide relevant and sufficient detail to help our review of their concerns.”

The regulator said it accepts reports from both anonymous and named whistleblowers.

“Protecting the identities of the whistleblowers who contact us is vital,” it said. “We understand they may be hesitant to share their personal information with us when making a disclosure.”

However, the FCA explained that when whistleblowers provide a way to contact them, it can be helpful as it can then discuss their concerns further.

The below chart shows that in most of the reports it received in 2022 Q2, whistleblowers provided their contact details.

Every report the FCA receives will contain one or more allegations of wrongdoing. 

Typically, the reports will contain allegations that fall under the following five overarching themes:

  • fitness and propriety
  • treating customers fairly
  • FSMA
  • culture
  • compliance

Compliance disclosures refer to any allegations where a firm, individual or system is not applying oversight or governance to an activity. 

This could relate to consumer advice, internal systems and or the conduct of a specific team. 

“All firms are expected to have compliance and governance functions as part of their internal review and audit structure,” the City watchdog said.

“Please note that a single disclosure to the FCA may contain more than one allegation.”

Last year, the FCA said it received a total of 2,754 separate allegations of misconduct, including fraud, money laundering and compliance complaints. 

The data, from the FCA’s Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 and analysed by the think tank Parliament Street, detailed the allegations - which were provided by 1,046 whistleblowers.

sonia.rach@ft.com

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