FCA takes steps to improve confidence of whistleblowers
“We need the intelligence whistleblowers provide to identify and act on problems in the firms we regulate. We want to make sure we’re capturing and using the information provided by whistleblowers as effectively as possible, and to give them as much information as the law allows on how we have acted on their concerns.”
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has taken steps to improve the confidence of whistleblowers in a move that follows a qualitative survey of whistleblowers who had provided information to the FCA, to understand their experience and identify areas for improvement.
The regulator intends to enhance the relationships and confidence by sharing further information with whistleblowers on how it’s acted on their information, improving the use of information provided by whistleblowers, and improving how it captures information from whistleblowers.
“We need the intelligence whistleblowers provide”
Therese Chambers, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, said: “We need the intelligence whistleblowers provide to identify and act on problems in the firms we regulate. We want to make sure we’re capturing and using the information provided by whistleblowers as effectively as possible, and to give them as much information as the law allows on how we have acted on their concerns.”
As part of the FCA’s initiative to enhance whistleblower confidence, the regulator plans to:
- provide whistleblowers with more detail on what has been done with the information provided, or reasons for taking or not taking action
- improve the use of whistleblowers’ information across the FCA (eg making the best use of data and ensuring that end-to-end whistleblowing processes are as efficient as possible)
- enhance its webform – which is the most popular way for whistleblowers to contact the FCA – to fully capture every whistleblower’s disclosure
- engage with the Department for Business and Trade to support a review of whistleblower legislation to enhance the wider whistleblowing system
The FCA says whistleblowing provides unique insights from inside the firms and markets it regulates. Proof of that is that it has allowed the financial watchdog to identify and correct problems including consumers being mis-sold loans, unauthorized firms taking on customers, and failings in firms’ own internal whistleblowing procedures.
The FCA’s ability to share information about how it has acted on the information provided by whistleblowers is often restricted by legal confidentiality obligations. The FCA’s revised approach will provide as much information as possible within these legislative constraints.
Whistleblowers dissatisfied with lack of feedback from FCA
In 2022, the FCA conducted a qualitative survey, with responses from 24 whistleblowers, which provided “very helpful insights, especially the finding that just over half the surveyed whistleblowers would continue to engage with us despite dissatisfaction with our feedback to them”.
At the time, the regulator stated: “We recognize that it is difficult for whistleblowers to see they are being taken seriously and listened to if they do not receive fuller feedback on what we have done with the concerns they have raised with us. We are determined to address this perception given the value we place on whistleblowers”.
The FCA needs to comply with section 348 of the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000, which requires the agency to keep information that it obtains during its functions and duties confidential and it includes information the FCA obtain from firms when we are acting on the basis of whistleblowing intelligence.
