Back in March, former FCA director Clive Adamson announced a probe into closed-book policies dating back to the 1970s, causing shares of major insurance companies to drop by up to 22% before the review was clarified.
It was reported that the FCA would investigate companies' high exit charges, when they only intended to gather information surrounding the way in which customers subject to those charges were being treated.
Clifford Chance partner Simon Davis published a report in December which criticised the way the FCA handled market sensitive information, and the length of time the firm took to clarify the review.
MPs are now expected to similarly criticise the FCA over the briefing, with Sky News claiming that the FCA will be accused of a "dereliction of duty" in the report.
Clive Adamson and former FCA director of communications Zitah McMillan both lost bonuses before leaving the FCA in December as part of 'structural changes'. Both are likely to be singled out for criticism in the latest report.
Commenting on the Davis report in December, Andrew Tyrie MP, Chairman of the Treasury Committee, said:
“The Davis report tells the story of an FCA pursuing the wrong strategy in the wrong way. The catalogue of errors made across the organisation is shocking – and some of the errors went to the top.
“The FCA Board originally intended to hold an internal inquiry, with some ‘external support’. This was plainly unacceptable – the regulator could not be permitted to investigate its own misconduct. I immediately pressed, on behalf of the Treasury Committee, for a fully independent inquiry led by a demonstrably impartial figure. It is now abundantly clear that this was needed.
“The FCA has fallen well below the standards it requires of the firms it regulates. Mr Davis has concluded that the body comprising the UK listing authority, in premeditated briefing, created a false market—causing considerable market uncertainty, worry for many consumers and some lasting damage.
“The Committee will, among many other things, examine whether these errors were a one-off or whether they reveal something amiss, perhaps seriously amiss, with the standards and culture of the FCA. We will also examine remedies, both those proposed or already announced, and others.”
