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Stories of bullying and different incidents of non-financial misconduct throughout the UK’s finance sector have risen by greater than two-thirds prior to now three years, the Metropolis regulator has discovered.
There have been 7.2 incidents per 1,000 workers throughout the sector throughout 2023, in contrast with 4.2 incidents in 2021, in response to a census of greater than 1,000 corporations carried out by the Monetary Conduct Authority.
The class of “non-financial misconduct” covers complaints starting from sexual harassment and racism to bringing undesirable pets into the workplace.
One in 4 of the incidents reported final yr relate to bullying, whereas discrimination accounted for 23 per cent, the FCA mentioned, including that the rising total numbers might point out an elevated willingness to talk up quite than an precise rise in ranges of wrongdoing.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury choose committee in Parliament, mentioned the findings may present that the sector was “going backwards”.
The committee beforehand “discovered a surprising prevalence of sexual harassment and bullying within the finance sector, and a tradition which is holding again girls,” she mentioned.
There was a better consciousness of and falling tolerance for non-financial misconduct after a collection of high-profile circumstances.
Hedge fund founder Crispin Odey final yr left the corporate he based after an investigation by the Monetary Occasions reported claims of sexual harassment and assault towards him, which he disputes. Individually, workers elsewhere have appeared to the employment tribunals to settle allegations of non-financial misconduct.
Corporations straight took motion on the criticism in 43 per cent of circumstances, the FCA’s obligatory survey discovered. Nevertheless, penalties hardly ever concerned monetary penalties.
When remuneration was adjusted it often associated to unvested, variable pay. Motion was additionally extra usually taken over violence and intimidation quite than areas similar to discrimination, the survey discovered.
Confidentiality and settlement agreements within the banking sector additionally fell over the three years, it discovered. Whereas no causes got for the drop, there was a widespread backlash to non-disclosure agreements, significantly over sexual harassment or assault claims within the wake of allegations towards movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
That is the primary yr the regulator has carried out the survey, because it goals to enhance transparency throughout the sector.
“In being clear we hope monetary corporations can benchmark themselves towards their friends,” mentioned Sarah Pritchard, who runs the FCA’s markets division and worldwide division. “We wish this information to help monetary corporations by offering their administration groups and boards with a possibility to contemplate in the event that they stand out, and, in that case, why that is perhaps.”
The regulator will subject recent steerage to corporations later this yr on easy methods to take care of non-financial misconduct circumstances.
