‘BENIGN NEGLECT’ OF CITY REGULATOR

THE City watchdog was dragged into the row over LV’s future as experts accused it of doing too little to protect the insurer’s members.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has given its blessing to the takeover of LV by US private equity firm Bain Capital.

The FCA said its role was to look at the deal and make sure the proposals treated customers fairly and ensure they faced no ‘adverse impact’.

But Martin Shaw, head of the Association of Financial Mutuals, said the FCA could have done more and said mutuals had suffered from a culture of ‘benign neglect’ at the hands of governments and regulators.