FCA: Banks will need to appoint a whistleblowing champion from next year

The new whistleblowing champions, who must be a senior manager, will be responsible for internal whistleblowing arrangements and must be able to handle all types of disclosure from all types of person, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said this morning.

The new Senior Managers and Certification regimes will also encourage more individual whistleblowing in the financial services sector, as individuals seek to ensure that they have taken all due steps to report and escalate concerns in order to protect their own position.

Christopher Woolard, Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, said for millions of customers a mortgage was one of the biggest financial transactions they would enter into.

He pointed out that competition ensures the sector works well by leading to lower prices and more product choice.

The FCA and Prudential Regulation Authority released the rules on Tuesday, which call on banks, building societies, and insurers to implement compliance mechanisms that will support whistleblowing and promote accountability. An outline of responses received and a confirmation of whether we intend to take any further action will be set out in a Feedback Statement, to be published in the first quarter of 2016.

The regulator is interested in the range of factors that might affect competition in the provision of loans secured against a property, whether regulated or unregulated, including as a result of changes introduced following the Mortgage Market Review.

Read the Call for Inputs on competition in the mortgage sector.

The City watchdog has launched an investigation into competition in the mortgage market.

These rules are being put in place following an insurance add-ons market study undertaken by the FCA in March 2014, which established that a large amount of consumers were being sold additional products without being notified that they were optional. The rules also require firms to put text in settlement agreements explaining an employee’s right to whistleblow.

Find out more information about the FCA.