The Financial Conduct Authority has been criticised for the way it handled a complaint about badges worn by its staff.
The Complaints Commissioner told the regulator to re-examine a complaint that argued pin badges worn by FCA staff were "unprofessional".
After initially examining the issue, commissioner Antony Townsend found, the FCA had failed to address the question of whether or not its initiative had been misguided and wrongly excluded the complaint.
The complaint stems from the day when a policy statement on payment protection insurance was published and a senior person at the FCA had pin badges produced and distributed to their staff bearing the phrase "Bring it on!".
The complaint also raised the issue of a handmade calendar which allegedly counted down the 90 days to the end of the window for bringing a judicial review about the policy statement.
The complainant expressed concern this fostered a "culture of institutional defensiveness" and sought to "shut down legitimate debate and challenge".
But the FCA dismissed the complaint, saying the badges were handed out to staff as an acknowledgement of reaching an important milestone in the regulator's work on PPI and had no connection with the judicial review process.
On top of this the regulator argued that since judicial review proceedings were not pending, the issue was a matter between the FCA and its employees, which made it exempt from the complaints scheme.
But Mr Townsend said: "That argument makes little sense. The records show that the 'bring it on!' initiative related to the anticipation of judicial review proceedings, even if at the time it started no proceedings had actually been issued. In my view, it is clear that you were alleging that the FCA had acted unprofessionally – a matter which falls within the complaints scheme.
"There might have been an argument that you were not directly affected by the matter about which you complained, but the FCA did not advance this."
He added: "I consider that the FCA’s responses to your complaint did not address your key concern, and sought to make a fine distinction between potential and actual judicial review proceedings which was irrelevant to your concern."
Mr Townsend told the FCA to write to the complainant again, addressing their concerns.
damian.fantato@ft.com
