London (Reuters)-British Authority (FCA) Finance (FCA) will extend beyond the banking sector, the rules relating to professional faults not falling under financial misconduct, such as intimidation and discrimination, she announced on Wednesday.
The British supervisory authority will also supervise the way in which financial companies deal with “serious and proven cases of poor personal behavior”, information that will be shared through regulatory references as is currently the case for financial professional faults.
It will thus be more difficult for individuals to avoid consequences from one business to another, said the FCA.
“A behavior such as intimidation or harassment that is not disputed is one of the most alerting signals – a culture where this happens can raise questions about decision -making and risk management of a company,” said Sarah Pritchard, deputy director of the FCA.
The rules relating to non -financial faults will be extended to some 37,000 other companies from September 1, 2026, after a one -year consultation period.
The new rules aim to increase consistency throughout the sector and strengthen confidence in financial services, added Sarah Pritchard.
In recent years, bad practices in financial institutions have been at the heart of regulatory concerns, the FCA having been summoned to explain how it was going to act on this problem.
Last year, she published her first complete study on the extent of the problem and found that harassment, discrimination and other non -financial behavior reports in the sector had increased by almost 60% in three years in the country, until 2023.
More than a third of companies have not reported these cases to their board of directors, as also shown in last year’s regulatory survey.
The survey also revealed that many companies did not have appropriate governance structures to deal with such incidents.
“Toxic cultures such as intimidation, harassment and discrimination are often linked to risky financial behavior and very publicized affairs have tainted the reputation and confidence of investors, which often results in significant losses,” said Anu Chhabra, head of development of private and founding markets of Women in Finance Group.
(Nell Mackenzie; Mara Vîlcu for the ; edited by Augustin Turpin)
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