The chair of the Financial Conduct Authority is resisting pressure to resign after failing to adhere to the watchdog’s own whistleblowing policy.
Last month, Ashley Alder was criticised for revealing the identity of a whistleblower to other staff members. The whistleblower had sent emails to Alder in December and March to raise concerns over “opaque hiring practices” at the FCA.
However, Alder was said to have forwarded the whistleblower’s correspondence, revealing their identity without their consent, contrary to the regulator’s policy.
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The whistleblower told the Financial Times that they were left “angry, stunned and speechless” when they saw the forwarded emails unredacted.
A second former FCA employee subsequently came forward with similar claims.
A review undertaken by Richard Lloyd, the senior independent director on the regulator’s board, and published by the watchdog on Monday found that Alder “did not follow the policy to the letter” when he forwarded the emails.
However, the report concluded that “while the FCA’s chair did not follow our existing policy to the letter in handling two complex cases, he had sought to ensure the concerns raised, if appropriate, were acted on”.
Lloyd wrote that Alder had acted “in the firm belief that there was no realistic prospect of causing harm to them”.
He added that the chair had “consulted senior colleagues confident they would treat the information with the utmost care.”
However, because the FCA is responsible for policing whether financial services firms have suitable whistleblowing arrangements in place and promises to protect whistleblowers’ identities, Alder’s actions have attracted criticism.
Georgina Halford-Hall, chief executive of WhistleblowersUK, said the incident was a resigning matter. And Kevin Hollinrake, shadow business secretary, said Alder “should consider his position, of course.”
However, Alder said after the regulator’s annual public meeting on Thursday that “it did not cross my mind” to resign.
“I’m absolutely firm in my view that I acted with the best of intentions,” he said. “Of course, if a policy sets expectations, even though that policy is impractical, we would obviously regret that those expectations were not met in this case.”
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