"If the legal adviser cannot provide the Committee with the assurances it needs, the Committee may use its formal powers to require the FCA to produce the report."
Last month, Nicky Morgan, Chair of the Treasury Committee, urged FCA Chief Andrew Bailey to publish a leaked report into the treatment of customers in RBS’s Global Restructuring Group.
GRG was a support unit for troubled businesses which came under fire in 2013 after allegations that it mistreated troubled businesses to profit from their financial hardship.
Bailey responded to Morgan stating that he does not believe the public interest "is best served by us publishing the full report".
Following the FCA’s refusal to publish, Morgan has today written to Bailey to propose an arrangement under which the Committee appoints a legal adviser – Andrew Green QC – to compare the FCA’s forthcoming summary with the underlying report.
Morgan said: “The Committee wants the maximum possible transparency to be brought to this long-standing issue. With that in mind, it has proposed an arrangement under which it appoints an independent legal adviser to provide assurances that the FCA’s ‘summary’ closely reflects the underlying GRG report.
“If the FCA declines this proposal, or if the legal adviser cannot provide the Committee with the assurances it needs, the Committee may use its formal powers to require the FCA to produce the report.
“In any case, the long-awaited summary should be published as soon as possible. The Committee’s review is not a reason for further delays.”
