Watchdog faces whistleblower test

THE City watchdog’s whistleblowing regime faces a crucial test after an employee was sacked for speaking up at Royal bank of Canada.

Trader John banerjee ( pictured) raised the alarm over a complacent culture and inconsistent rules at RBC and was forced out because he dared question the lender. banerjee has won a tribunal against the bank, which was slammed by the judge for sacking him ‘for making a public interest disclosure’.

The result appears to suggest that senior RBC staff broke strict rules set by the Financial Conduct Authority which state that workers cannot be victimised for raising concerns. it will pile pressure on the FCA to take action against those responsible – potentially opening the door for senior bankers to be banned from the finance industry over the issue for the first time. Regulators are facing calls to take tough action against RBC. Georgina halford-hall of campaign group Whistleblowers UK said: ‘We continue to press the Financial Conduct Authority to take action on the findings exposed in this case.’ banerjee, 50, joined RBC’s London office in 2015. he quickly raised concerns about the policies which governed trading at the firm and were meant to stop bad behaviour and excessive risk-taking. banerjee emailed three senior executives after attending a meeting at which staff were told they had a duty to speak up about bad practice. he raised concerns about RBC’s box-ticking culture. but senior bankers privately branded banerjee a ‘blowhard’. he was fired in August 2016 for repeatedly being late, but Judge Tayler found the bank desperately wanted to avoid a proper investigation of banerjee’s complaints and had dismissed him to keep him silent.

A spokesman for RBC said: ‘We strongly disagree with the tribunal’s decision and we are appealing.’ The FCA said: ‘Whistleblowers play an important role in exposing poor practice.’