WhistleBlower Champions At Banks

WhistleBlower Champions At Banks.

The finance industry regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), have jointly today published new rules with regard to whistleblowing within banking groups.

Over the last few years we have all seen both on television, online and in newspapers various trading, price-fixing and other scandals that have resulted in millions of pounds in fines both in the UK, the United States and Europe.

As a result, a Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards was set up in 2013 with recommendations made this year to make people individually accountable for such scandals.

As a byproduct of this, with effect from September 2016, larger financial companies and banking groups will be required to have structured Whistleblower procedures. In short, if you are an employee of a financial company and you are aware that rules are being bended slightly or indeed there is a total disregard for the law, you are required to report this as a whistleblower. The concept of having whistleblowers runs through the whole financial services industry for both large companies right down to small companies with just one or two employees.

For larger groups, whistleblowing must now become an integral part of the firm's operations with:

• A senior person appointed as a "Whistleblower Champion" responsible for making sure whistleblowing procedures are in place and do work and we suggest the following will be required
• Full written whistleblowing procedures
• Regular reviews, amendments and consultation of the same whistleblowing procedures
• Whistleblower training
• Employees being made to feel totally secure that they can whistleblower without fear of repercussions or indeed job security. In fact, a financial services company must report it immediately to regulators if it loses any employment tribunal with a whistleblower.

Comment

We are delighted with the regulators stance. We believe for to long there has been a lack of accountability amongst both regulators and senior executives of large financial institutions to the detriment of both the consumer and the financial services industry as a whole. Consumer confidence in building a trustworthy financial services industry is paramount to the financial well-being of every individual in this country.

We do not wish to see any more mis-selling scandals and we hope the new whistleblower rules will stop poor practice or bad habits before they even start.