FCA on cancellation of its banking culture review
22 July 2016
The Treasury Committee publishes correspondence between Rt Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Committee, and Tracey McDermott, former Acting Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in relation to the regulator's thematic review of culture in banks.
- Letter from Tracey McDermott, Acting Chief Executive, FCA, dated 22 March 2016
- Letter from Treasury Committee Chair to Tracey McDermott, Acting Chief Executive, FCA, dated 22 February 2016
- Letter from Tracey McDermott, Acting Chief Executive, FCA, dated 2 February 2016
- Inquiry: Financial Conduct Authority
- Treasury Committee
Chair's comments
Commenting on the correspondence, Mr Tyrie said:
"The FCA's decision to drop its bank culture review could have been better handled. The regulator still has a lot of problems to put right, among them its communications strategy."
Background
On 20 January 2016, Tracey McDermott, Acting Chief Executive of the FCA, and John Griffith-Jones, Chairman of the FCA, appeared before the Treasury Committee to give evidence on the decision to cancel a review on the culture of banking. During the session, Chris Philp MP asked Ms McDermott how many whistleblowing cases resulted in some form of formal subsequent action:
Q221 Chris Philp: You have mentioned information you receive, so tip-offs. You received 1,340 in the last financial year. Of those 1,340 tip-offs, how many resulted in some form of formal subsequent action?
Tracey McDermott: We do have those statistics, but I am afraid I do not have them at my fingertips with me today. All of them were followed up. A relatively small number will feed into enforcement action. All of them are considered by supervisors. I am hesitant to speculate, because we do have that data, but there is certainly a large number that either influence supervision plans, drive particular pieces of work or, in some cases, lead to enforcement.
Q222 Chris Philp: A breakdown for the Committee in writing later, if that is okay, Chairman, explaining what happened to that 1,340 would be quite useful.
Tracey McDermott: That we certainly can do.
Ms McDermott made a commitment to provide this information in a letter. The letter also provide some clarity on how the FCA classifies documents.
Mr Tyrie responded to Ms McDermott on 22 February with three questions relating specifically to the FCA's decision to drop its banking culture review. Ms McDermott responded on 22 March.