Context
The FCA has launched the ‘In confidence, with confidence’ campaign aimed to encourage individuals working in financial services to report potential wrongdoing to the FCA and remind them of the confidentiality processes in place.
The FCA whistleblowing rules require firms to:
- Have effective arrangements in place for employees to raise concerns, and to guarantee these concerns are handled appropriately and confidentially.
- Appoint a whistleblowers’ champion to make sure there is senior management oversight of the integrity, independence and effectiveness of the firm’s arrangements – including those arrangements designed to protect whistleblowers from victimisation – as well as overseeing the preparation of an annual report to the firm’s governing body.
Sometimes employees may be reluctant to speak up. So, as part of the campaign, the FCA has published materials for firms to share with employees, as well as using FCA events to highlight the campaign.
Key Points
- The FCA has been investing in increased resourcing to support whistleblower interaction, including increasing the headcount on its whistleblowing team.
- The specialist whistleblower team is trained to debrief and interact directly with whistleblowers, as well as liaising with various departments across the FCA.
- Every report the FCA receives is reviewed and the FCA will protect individual whistleblowers’ identities.
- Whistleblowers who report to the FCA will have a dedicated case manager. They can meet with the FCA to discuss their concerns and can receive optional regular updates throughout the investigation.
- The FCA has introduced a mandatory e-learning module for all staff, to help ensure any intelligence received is dealt with correctly and that identities are protected.
- The FCA has also produced a digital toolkit (https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/whistleblowing/speaking-fca) for industry bodies, consumer groups and whistleblowing groups to encourage individuals to have confidence to step forward if they need to. It includes case studies providing powerful examples of how whistleblowers have helped prevent consumer harm, further details can be found here: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/whistleblowing/case-studies.
- The FCA’s website has been updated to provide more comprehensive information for potential whistleblowers: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/whistleblowing.
Speaking to the FCA
Individuals can choose to remain anonymous and any information they share about themselves will be kept safe. This includes not confirming the existence of a whistleblower when making enquiries, unless legally obliged to do so.
Whistleblowing contact details:
- Call the FCA’s dedicated team: 0207 066 9200
- Email: whistle@fca.org.uk
- Write to the FCA: Intelligence Department (Ref PIDA) Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN
Next actions
Firms should review the whistleblowing resources and consider how to communicate these to their staff. Fims should ensure they review their internal whistleblowing procedures to ensure these meet FCA requirements and have the correct contact details included.