FCA: Change in attitude needed

City workers need to adjust their attitudes, claims the senior regulator of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Speaking at the FCA’s Enforcement Conference in London, Tracey McDermott called on employers and workers in the City to consider how their behaviour impacts on society as a whole.

In particular, she called for a shift in attitude along the lines of that seen on the issue of drink-driving, with firms and individuals more willing to examine how it may cause other people problems.

Ms McDermott explained: “The cultural change we are looking for is perhaps analogous to the shift in attitudes to drink-driving between my parents’ generation and my own. For my parents and their peers, reluctance to have a drink and get behind the wheel was mainly because they were scared of being caught. This was not seen as an ethical dilemma.”

“For my generation, however, drinking and driving was presented as a moral issue. We were made to think about whether it was right or wrong by forcing us to focus on the impact it could have on others.”

Over the past 12 months, the FCA has given out a record level of fines – equal to £1.4 billion – as it attempts to ensure all financial companies are following regulations and are adequately penalised when they fail to do so.

Martin Wheatley, the chief executive of the FCA, added that more must be done to ensure cultural reform happens, especially at the top levels of firms.

Last month, six key banks were fined by UK and US regulators following an investigation into foreign exchange rate irregularities.

HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss bank UBS and US banks JP Morgan Chase, Citibank and Bank of America were collectively fined £2.6 billion after evidence emerged of their role in fixing currency rates.

The FCA still has to issue fines to Barclays bank, which refused to pay the joint penalty, preferring to be considered as a separate case.

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