On 4 May 2023, the FCA published a report setting out the findings of its own qualitative assessment in relation to its handling whistleblowers who directly report to the FCA.
The FCA selected a sample of 68 whistleblowers who had engaged with different FCA Whistleblowing team members and received 21 responses. We note that in contrast, between April 2021 and March 2022, the FCA received and assessed 1,041 whistleblower reports with 2,114 separate allegations. Why such a small sample?
Amongst the FCA's questions, they asked respondents why they decided to contact the FCA’s Whistleblowing team. The number one reason for reporting to the FCA was that an internal complaint had already been made but which was ignored (13 of 21 respondents), closely followed by the reporter being a former worker of a firm who could not use another channel. The findings suggest that respondents came to the FCA as a "listener of last resort", where they did not feel they could raise their concerns at work or that their firm had addressed their concerns.
More concerning from the FCA's own perspective were the respondents' degree of satisfaction with the FCA Whistleblowing team. The FCA asked:
Published on: Washington: India’s Operation Sindoor, launched following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists,...