UK FCA Puts Workplace Conduct Under Greater Scrutiny

In a recent Financial Times article, journalist Martin Arnold reports that financial services firms with a “slapdash” approach to workplace conduct and ethics face greater regulatory scrutiny under new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, especially following the regulator’s successful case against hedge fund founder Crispin Odey.

Therese Chambers, the FCA’s co-head of enforcement, told the FT that stricter rules against harassment and misconduct, in force this month, would ensure “people can speak up” and be protected. Her comments followed Odey’s failed legal challenge against his lifetime ban and fine. London’s Upper Tribunal upheld findings that Odey “lacked integrity” and showed “reckless disregard” for corporate governance. During the hearing, he was also confronted with more than 46 sexual harassment allegations from former staff, although the Tribunal said its decision did not hinge on whether sexual misconduct had occurred.

Chambers called the ruling “very gratifying” and said firms with “gaps” in how they treat staff “need to be very mindful of these new requirements.” She added that ethical behavior is “of absolutely paramount importance when you’re managing other people’s money,” and that the FCA “will act” on serious misconduct.

In 2023, Starling Insights published “The Era of Accountability,” a Deeper Dive report discussing a global trend of employees in every industry holding their employer accountable for conduct that does not align with their own values. In a Preamble therein, Jamie Fiore Higgins, author of Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs, offers a harrowing recounting of the pressures and outright abuses she suffered during her career.