Lessons from the Carphone Warehouse fine

A hefty fine for six-and-a-half years of mis-selling insurance policies might never have happened if not for whistleblowing reports – even though the firm itself failed to act properly upon them. Syedur Rahman discusses this and other learning points from the Carphone Warehouse case.

Syedur Rahman is a senior lawyer at business crime solicitors Rahman Ravelli. Contact him on syedur.rahman@rahmanravelli.co.uk.

The fact that Carphone Warehouse has been hit with a £29 million penalty for mis-selling of its insurance may, at first glance, seem to be nothing more than the ever-lively mobile phone market making headlines once again for the wrong reasons. It would be easy to think that there is nothing particularly remarkable about a major company having its knuckles rapped and its finances hit for a failure to do things by the book.