Revealed: FCA bosses were the subject of 30 internal reports of bullying, harassment, racism and discrimination between 2020 and 2022. What’s next?

Following the Rules

Today’s episode is a deep dive into the culture of the UK’s top financial watchdogs: the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. In it, I reveal that the FCA received 38 allegations of bullying, harassment racism and discrimination taking place within its ranks in 2020, 2021 and 2022, while the PRA received three such reports from amongst its workforce over the same time period.

Together with today’s guests, we discuss the action the FCA and PRA should take as a result of these allegations, how news of these claims could affect regulators’ efforts to police similar misbehaviour amongst finance workers and plenty more in between.

Penny Miller is a partner at law firm Simmons & Simmons, and heads their global financial services regulatory practice.

Christian Hunt’s career includes stints as chief operating officer at the PRA and global head of compliance and operational risk at UBS Asset Management. Since 2019, he has run Human Risk, a consultancy and training firm specialising in advising company bosses on behavioural science, ethics and compliance, and a top-rated podcast of the same name.

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In response to the topics covered in this podcast, a spokesperson for the FCA said its staff were passionate about *its work and making the FCA the best organisation it can be. "We have a culture where people feel they are able to speak up and raise issues if they feel they haven't been treated correctly," the spokesperson said. "As the stats show, where concerns are raised we investigate them thoroughly and fairly."

The spokesperson added: "Non-financial misconduct is unacceptable and we will continue to raise it as an issue with firms."

A spokesperson for the PRA declined to comment.