Trader wins £1.2m for being sacked after raising concerns

Only 41 per cent of financial services staff who report concerns feel they are listened to and taken seriously, the Banking Standards Board has found in its latest review. [1] As a former RBC FX trader is awarded £1.2 million in compensation after raising compliance concerns and then being discharged, it appears the industry still struggles with dissonance between whistleblowing rhetoric and reality, writes Denis O’Connor.

Denis O’Connoris a fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment. He was a member of the British Bankers’ Association Money Laundering Committee from 2003-10 and a member of the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group’s board and editorial panel between 2010 and 2016. He has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences on financial crime issues, both in the United Kingdom and abroad.

John Banerjee, an emerging markets foreign exchange (FX) trader at the London unit of Royal Bank of Canada, has been awarded £1.2 million in compensation by a London Employment Tribunal. He successfully claimed that he was dismissed after repeatedly raising compliance concerns to his managers. [2] The Financial Conduct Authority is reported to have launched an investigation into the culture at RBC following this case and receiving numerous, similar claims to the FCA whistleblowing line by RBC insiders.