FCA urged to publish report on RBS amid mockery warnings

The head of the Financial Conduct Authority has been warned he risks making a “mockery” of the City watchdog if it further delays publishing a report into RBS’S mistreatment of small businesses.

FCA chief executive Andrew Bailey was yesterday facing down MPS on the influential Treasury select committee, where the taxpayer-owned bank’s shortcomings were again under the spotlight.

Questioned by Stewart Hosie of the Scottish National Party on why the FCA has delayed releasing the full report, the MP warned that the hold-up risks “reputational damage” to the watchdog.

Mr Hosie said it could make a “mockery” of the regulator, with copies already in circulation online. “Time is important here. If you don’t publish, others will,” he said.

Mr Bailey said publishing the report without the legal checks sets a worrying “precedent” and he urged MPS not to do so using their Parliamentary privilege. Labour’s Clive Lewis revealed he has seen an unredacted copy of the report.

Committee chairman Nicky Morgan said there was “not time now” for the FCA to complete lengthy legal checks before publishing, adding that she will submit a formal request to publish the full report after receiving a leaked version from Mr Lewis. “There is an enormous desire for the report to be in the public domain,” she said.