Information on whistleblowing reports - March 2022

Question A

For the period between 1st January 2019 and 31st December 2021, please provide:

1. The number of reports submitted to the FCA regarding wrongdoing or malpractice (whistleblowing);
2. The number of reports submitted anonymously;
3. The number of reports followed-up with by the FCA; and
4. The number of reports that resulted in the FCA taking action or significant action against the business subject to the whistleblowing report.

Questions B

Confirm how many people are employed on the FCA whistleblowing team or involved in handling and responding to whistleblowing reports eg. case managers.

Question C

Provide a summary of the kinds of concerns raised and ideally a top 3-5 of the most common concerns eg. money laundering, fraud.

Question A

Please see Annex A[1]. Please note:

1. In relation to Column C, that all reports are followed up. By that we mean that all reports are reviewed by a Whistleblowing Team member and then almost every disclosure is sent to a relevant business area for review; and

2. In relation to Column D, that the figures relate to the number of reports resulting in concluded actions. Therefore, some reports received in 2021 are still being assessed and/or acted upon.

Question B

Our Whistleblowing team is comprised of 16 full-time employees. The dedicated team are trained to debrief and interact directly with whistleblowers, as well as liaising with various departments across the organisation. The team works with whistleblowers to understand their circumstances and protect their identities, which is vital in retaining robust safeguards around the process and in allowing a safe space to speak up.

Beside the number of staff in our dedicated team, it is important to highlight that the assessments of whistleblower intelligence are performed by colleagues across the FCA, primarily in Supervision. Within Supervision we have an additional 2 full-time employees dedicated to coordinate the work that arise from the intelligence provided by whistleblowers. 

Due to the number of colleagues that assess whistleblowing cases as part of their role we are unable to put an exact number of colleagues working on whistleblowing cases.

Question C

Every report we receive might contain one or more allegations of wrongdoing. During the specified timeframe, the 3 categories of allegation that were recorded most often were:

• Fitness and Propriety (1180)
• Compliance (1130)
• Treating Customers Fairly (944)