Scottish Daily Mail

FCA boss: Osborne axed me too early

- By James Salmon

THE boss of the financial watchdog has revealed his ‘disappoint­ment’ at being ousted with so much ‘unfinished business’ to clean up the City.

Martin Wheatley, who resigned as chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority last week after losing the support of the Chancellor, gave a subdued speech at the watchdog’s annual meeting i n London yesterday.

In his first public appearance since the announceme­nt, he broke with the tradition of spurned executives who tend to make every effort to hide their bitterness.

Speaking to reporters, he said: ‘Frankly, I am disappoint­ed to be moving on, and do so with a sense of unfinished business.’

The ‘unfinished business’ includes a crackdown on the manipulati­on of financial markets, via the Fair and Effective Markets Review.

Wheatley also leaves before the implementa­tion of tougher rules – dubbed the Senior Persons Regime – designed to hold top executives to account.

In his speech, he said he had helped to deliver a ‘systemic shift in the UK about how people think about the financial sector’.

He added: ‘I am more convinced than ever that conduct is at the top of firms’ agendas and is no longer an afterthoug­ht.’

The tough-talking regulator – who handed out a record £1.4bn in fines last year and gained notoriety in the City after promising to ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ – lost the confidence of George Osborne and the Treasury. The decision was taken by Number 11 not to renew his place on the board next year.

It comes after the Mail revealed in March that senior figures at the Treasury – including the then Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrea Leadsom – had expressed ‘serious doubts’ about his leadership.

Wheatley lost the backing of senior politician­s who believe the regulator failed to protect small firms missold risky interest rate swaps by banks and offered i nadequate compensati­on.

Yesterday, the departing chief executive faced angry comments from members of the public over the FCA’s response to the scandal. Despite setting up a £20bn compensati­on scheme it has failed to punish firms or staff.

Critics say the FCA also lost credibilit­y after a bungled leak of market sensitive i nformation about an insurance industry probe last year.

Mark Garnier, a Conservati­ve member of the Treasury Select Committee said: ‘ The handling of interest rate swaps mis-selling and compensati­on clearly demonstrat­ed how the FCA got its priorities wrong and let banks off the hook.’ Wheatley opted to resign rather than serve out the remainder of his term, which was due to end in March.

Last week, Osborne praised his l eadership of the FCA since it replaced the Financial Services Authority in April 2013.

He said it was time for the FCA to move onto the ‘next stage’ and said a ‘different leadership is required’.

The Treasury has denied suggestion­s from Labour that the removal of Wheatley was a sop to the banking industry, which has been riled by huge fines and fierce criticism from the regulator over its behaviour.

Wheatley gained plaudits for the relatively swift punishment meted out on some of Britain’s biggest banks for rigging the £3.5trillion a day foreign exchange market.

This included a record £284m fine for Barclays in May, as well as huge penalties for HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland.

FCA director of supervisio­n Tracey McDermott will take over as acting chief executive of the FCA on September 12 until a permanent replacemen­t is appointed. The Government has promised to launch a ‘worldwide search’ to find a new chief executive. ÷ HSBC is set to sell its Turkish business to Dutch l ender ING Group for around $700-$750m in the next few days. The UK giant is selling the loss-making arm in a global drive to cut costs, boost profitabil­ity and si mplify t he business.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom