As regulators gradually strengthen industry rules, 12 FCA sack employees commit misconduct for misconduct
Newly released data shows that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has rejected 12 employees in the past three years as regulators step up efforts to address toxic workplace behavior in the financial sector.
According to data disclosed in the Freedom of Information Act, between 2022 and 2024, 38 FCA staff face disciplinary procedures. In addition to 12 dismissals, 26 employees were also issued written warnings – 16 first warnings and 10 final warnings.
These figures are standard with city regulators consulting on new rules to enable new regulations to conduct serious non-financial misconduct (NFM) cases such as bullying, harassment and violence across banks and non-bank financial institutions.
FCA Deputy CEO Sarah Pritchard warned in the foreword to a published consultation paper that failure to address workplace misconduct could undermine growth, prevent reports and enable wider financial misconduct.
“Failure to address toxic behavior can drive out good people, stop employees from speaking out and undermine performance. It can hurt growth and lead to financial misconduct,” she said.
Pritchard said regulators played a role in preventing so-called “rolling bad apples.” Those individuals who move or disclose between companies that have no serious misconduct.
The consultation is designed to ensure that serious non-financial misconduct cases are considered as issues of regulatory issues and that if the company fails to take action, it will have a potential impact on the company’s senior management.
Commenting on FOI data, Jason Kurtz, CEO of software company Basware, said: “Organizations responsible for maintaining industry standards cannot compromise when dealing with incidents of misconduct. Financial crime, fraud, fraud and rising risks, the highest compliance standards are the highest priority, and the highest standard for observation is the highest advantage for observation.”
The FCA consultation on non-financial misconduct rules will end later this year and final policy changes are expected to be implemented in 2026.
