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Martin Wheatley: I had unfinished business at FCA Martin Wheatley: I had unfinished business at FCA
(about 5 hours later)
The outgoing chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority has expressed disappointment over his departure, saying he had “unfinished business” as the City’s top regulator. The ousted chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority has expressed disappointment about his departure, saying he had “unfinished business” as the City’s top regulator.
Martin Wheatley was speaking in public for the first time since the shock announcement on Friday that he would step down in September after the chancellor, George Osborne, decided not to renew his five-year contract. which was due to run out in March. He told the FCA’s annual public meeting he felt he still had work to do. Martin Wheatley was speaking in public for the first time since his surprise departure was announced last Friday. Wheatley is to step down in September after the chancellor, George Osborne, decided not to renew his five-year contract. That contract was due to end next March, but in a statement Osborne said the City’s top watchdog needed “different leadership”.
Addressing the public meeting at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in London, Wheatley said: “I am disappointed to be moving on and I do with a sense of unfinished businesses.” Wheatley told the FCA’s annual public meeting– which was peppered with angry exchanges about the regulator’s handling of compensation from banks for interest rates swap mis-selling - that he still had work to do.
His role as chief executive will be temporarily filled by Tracey McDermott, a senior official at the regulator. Addressing the meeting at the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre in London, he said: “I am disappointed to be moving on and I do with a sense of unfinished businesses.”
Wheatley, a Briton, was brought to London from Hong Kong by Osborne when the coalition was overhauling City regulation in the wake of the 2008 crisis. Wheatley became the first chief executive of the FCA when the Financial Services Authority was broken up. He later listed the on-going work to clean up markets through the fair and efficient markets review and the implementation of the senior managers regime intended to hold top bosses to account when things go wrong. The cleanup was prompted by the Libor rigging scandal.
John Griffith-Jones, the FCA chairman, paid tribute to Wheatley: “I can tell you that establishing a culture at a new organisation is a pretty lonely top-down process.” Wheatley, whose role as chief executive will be temporarily filled by Tracey McDermott, a senior official at the regulator, was brought to London from Hong Kong, where he had also been running the regulator, by Osborne when the coalition government was overhauling City regulationafter the 2008 financial crisis. Wheatley became the first chief executive of the FCA when the Financial Services Authority was broken up.
GrHe thanked the outgoing chief executive and said Wheatley had made the regulator effective because of his “own immense professionalism, high standards and unquestionable integrity”. Following speculation that the City is facing a more lenient approach from regulators, he said there was a risk “people will forget” the problems the industry faced in 2008.
When Wheatley’s resignation was announced, Osborne said the time had come for a new figurehead for the regulator, which has levied a record level of fines on financial firms since Wheatley took the helm. John Griffith-Jones, the FCA chairman, insisted there would not be a change in attitude and paid tribute to Wheatley, saying: “I can tell you that establishing a culture at a new organisation is a pretty lonely top-down process.”
Record fines were handed down for foreign exchange rigging earlier this year and Wheatley said that conduct issues were now at the forefront of the minds of the bosses of major firms. “I’m more convinced than ever than ever that conduct is at the the front of firms’ agendas. It is no longer an afterthought”. Griffith-Jones has also faced questions over his position as chairman has faced questions. But when asked on Wednesday about his future, said: “I have every intention of being at this meeting next year.”
Michael Mason-Mahon, a member of the public speaking from the floor, was critical of the FCA and Wheatley. “Are you the worse joke that ever happened to the financial services industry?” he said, after claiming the FCA was not scrutinising information that it had received. The FCA has levied a record level of fines on financial firms since Wheatley took the helm.
He also questioned why members of the board of HSBC had not been removed despite being accused of laundering cash by US regulators. Fines were handed down for foreign exchange rigging earlier this year and Wheatley said conduct issues were now at the forefront of the minds of the bosses of leading firms. “I’m more convinced than ever than ever that conduct is the top of firms’ agendas. It is no longer an afterthought,” he said.
The wholesale markets, such as forex, however, were an “area that has much further to go” in improving culture, he added.
Michael Mason-Mahon, a member of the public speaking from the floor, was critical of the FCA and Wheatley. “Are you the worst joke that ever happened to the financial services industry?” he said, after claiming the regulator was not scrutinising information that it had received. He also questioned why members of the board of HSBC had not been removed despite being accused of laundering cash by US regulators.
Wheatley and other members of the FCA board faced sustained questions over the handling of the interest rates swap mis-selling scandal. He was forced to admit that no fines and no individuals have had their licences revoked as a result.
The only course of action for individuals who feel they have been wrongly turned down for compensation is the courts, McDermott said, refusing to meet one member of the public infuriated by his treatment by his bank. One campaigner said evidence had been found of criminality amoung bankers who sold interest rate swaps.
For the fourth year, investor activist Philip Meadowcroft asked when the report into the near collapse of HBOS seven years ago would be published. Griffith-Jones, who is recused from discussions about the report because he chaired the bank;s auditor, KPMG, said there had been no political pressure to withhold the document, adding: “No such wink, nudge, email has existed.”
On Tuesday, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, wrote to Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the Treasury select committee, to warned that further delays were occurring to the HBOS report.