MPS pile on pressure to see report into RBS

An influential committee of MPS is ramping up pressure on Britain’s financial watchdog to publish details of misconduct at Royal Bank of Scotland – and has threatened to use “formal powers” to demand publication of a leaked report.

Nicky Morgan, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, has written to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) chief executive Andrew Bailey proposing to appoint Andrew Green QC as an independent legal adviser to compare the regulator’s impending summary with the underlying report into the scandal at RBS’S controversial restructuring unit.

The FCA has so far refused to publish the report in full, claiming it would reveal confidential information about individuals, instead offering a detailed summary.

In the latest twist in the saga, Ms Morgan said if the FCA refuses the proposal for independent legal scrutiny of the summary, or if the legal adviser does not provide the necessary assurances, the committee may look to force the FCA to publish.

She said: “The committee wants the maximum possible transparency to be brought to this longstanding issue.

“The committee may use its formal powers to require the FCA to produce the report.”