Senior management accountability – the regulator’s nemesis

A recent drubbing in front of the Upper Tribunal in the Forsyth case, suggests that the Financial Conduct Authority must examine itself and its own accountability before it can be regarded as a safe enforcement operator. Adam Samuel reviews the “enforcement mayhem” and suggests ways forward.

Adam SamuelBA LLM DipPFS MCISI FCIArb Certs CII (MP&ER) Barrister and Attorney may be contacted atadamsamuel@aol.com.For links to where you can buy the second edition of ‘Consumer Financial Services Complaints and Compensation’, see www.adamsamuel.com/book.

A month rarely goes by without a senior executive of the FCA telling us that the individual accountability of senior managers is a centrepiece of its approach to regulation. However, the regulator has a problem or rather several. Its choice of targets and abysmal success rate in front of the Upper Tribunal allows senior managers at major firms to sleep comfortably. The regulator is probably not coming after them and, if it does, it will mess it up.