Hundreds of UK banks, brokers and insurers missed a deadline to respond to the financial watchdog’s survey on sexual harassment and bullying in the City, suggesting that firms are struggling to grasp the scale of the problem.
In February, the Financial Conduct Authority sent out data requests in a bid to understand the extent of non-financial misconduct across the firms it regulates. It asked for figures on the number of incidents, details on how whistleblowers report, as well as the use of nondisclosure agreements over the last three years.
A Bloomberg Freedom of Information request showed that one quarter of firms missed an initial deadline. The FCA said that it surveyed just over 1,000 firms, with 261 failing to respond in time and just 36 requesting extensions.
“It demonstrates the difficulty firms have experienced in capturing this data — albeit at this point, safety might be provided in numbers,” said Imogen Makin, a business crime lawyer at WilmerHale in London. “This fact alone, quite apart from the responses themselves, is likely to provoke further scrutiny from the FCA.”
Facing pressure from lawmakers at the influential Treasury Select Committee — a group of cross-party lawmakers —- over a series of high-profile scandals, such as allegations of misconduct by hedge fund chief Crispin Odey, the FCA’s markets chief announced the survey in January.
The downfall of Odey left lawyers and campaigners asking what if anything has changed to improve workplace culture at city firms. At a London employment tribunal, judges are soon to decide how much an ex-Barclays Plc banker should be paid after hearing how her boss used “plainly sexist” language to describe her.
The survey is part of a move to go further in pushing firms to tackle non-financial wrongdoing. The regulator is also now considering requiring employers to investigate an individual’s behavior outside of the office if there are misconduct concerns.
The data request comes to 23 pages of questions, and asked for detail on methods of detection — including whether the incident was reported by a whistleblower — and the outcomes of those incidents. The FCA also asked about nondisclosure agreements and employment tribunal proceedings.
It also asked firms to split out incidents between those attributed to senior management and those without that FCA-certification.
The regulator warned that the survey — the most detailed yet — was mandatory and any firms failing to comply risked a public reprimand, penalty or even a move by the FCA to seek a search warrant. It said in a separate statement that some 96% of the surveyed firms had now responded.
“Firms will need to ensure that they reconsider their systems and controls in light of their responses to the FCA’s survey, and their experiences in gathering the data required to respond,” Makin said.
Photograph: Commuters cross London Bridge in the City of London. Photo credit: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg
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