By Kirstin Ridley
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s markets regulator on Tuesday pledged to provide greater detail this autumn on how it might put into action proposals to publicly name companies under investigation.
Therese Chambers, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) co-head of enforcement and market oversight, told a London conference that the watchdog would first step up meetings with the industry and others to explore how to develop the plans.
“This autumn, we will intensify our engagement – meeting with trade associations, firms, those on all sides of the debate – exploring how we can develop our proposals,” Chambers told the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) annual European compliance and legal conference.
“Later this autumn we plan to provide greater detail on how it could work in practice.”
The FCA in February published proposals to publicly name some companies when investigations are opened in an effort to deter wrongdoing and encourage whistleblowing and transparency, if it believed this would be in the public interest.
But lawyers told Reuters they expected the FCA to narrow plans after lawmakers joined a fierce corporate backlash, labelling them misjudged and harmful to London’s competitive ranking.
They argued that publicly shaming companies before innocence or guilt is established risks dealing irreparable and unjustified damage to companies and to the finance industry.
Chambers said the FCA recognised the desire for a greater definition of any new public interest test. Companies under FCA investigation are currently only named in “exceptional” circumstances.
“We do think the case for a degree more transparency remains strong. But it needs to be seen within the vital context of a focused number of cases likely to deliver the greatest deterrent and delivered much faster,” she said.
“And rest assured, as we work to find those solutions, we will be mindful of all our objectives – FCA including supporting the international competitiveness of the UK’s financial services and the medium to long term growth of the economy.”
