In the Press – APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services

Press Statement: The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial
Services Holds Annual General Meeting and Elects New Officers

Mind the Gap: A Day Inside Britain’s Financial Illusion — and the Quiet Resistance Rising Against It

Fraud hits harder when victims are shunned

OPEN LETTER: APPG-to-Meg-Hillier-MP-Chair-of-the-Treasury-Committee-regarding-the-FCAs-handling-of-the-Woodford-Scandal

OPEN LETTER to the chair of the Treasury Committee regarding the FCAs planned policy to delete emails

Press Statement: The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services is publishing a Supplementary Report about the Financial Conduct
Authority’s poor performance in relation to its consumer protection remit.

Press Statement: The APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services has been reconstituted; its Purpose Statement reconfirmed, and its Officers elected

APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services elects new members

The APPG on Investment Fraud and Fairer Financial Services has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM)

The APPG welcomes the publication on 11 April by the Financial Conduct Authority of the Final Notice relating to Link Fund Solutions Limited, but is concerned about the Warning Notice against Woodford Investment Management (‘WIM’) and Neil Woodford released on the same date.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fairer Financial Services regrets today’s announcement that Mr Justice Richards has approved the implementation of the proposed Scheme of Arrangement for Link Fund Solutions Limited, the Authorised Corporate Director of the Woodford Equity Income Fund.

The APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services extends its important Call for Evidence into the FCA

Peter Gibson, Member of Parliament for Darlington and Chair of the APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services, believes the time is right to give employees past and present of the Financial Conduct Authority a chance to share their opinion about the regulator.

“When we announced the Call for Evidence in July, we said that our Group’s Purpose Statement includes an undertaking to ‘identify aspects of personal banking and financial services where the service providers or regulators have not delivered, or are not delivering, excellence and appropriate consumer protection’ and a commitment to ‘encourage all stakeholders to work together to resolve past and present shortcomings, and to bring about positive changes.’

“Clearly, the views of those who work or have worked at the FCA are highly pertinent to the work of our Group as a whole, and to the Call for Evidence. We were recently approached by a representative of this stakeholder group and asked to consider creating a bespoke question set tailored to their expertise and interests, which we have now done.

“We are alert to the need to handle their responses with particular sensitivity and have provided enhanced assurances about confidentiality where requested and have also arranged specialist support from Whistleblowers UK for any respondents who may be considering making protected disclosures.

“Our Call for Evidence is a positive, progressive and purposeful initiative. The overall objective is to improve our understanding of how the FCA is perceived. If the evidence we gather indicates there are problem areas, we can explore those issues further, with a view to proposing Evidence-Based remedies. Ultimately therefore, this initiative may lead to fresh policy thinking and reform, for the benefit for all, including of course the FCA itself.

The more responses we have, the more meaningful the analysis will be, so it would be good for all interested stakeholders to not just participate in the exercise but to also help raise awareness of it. As at the end of August, we had already received 85 responses, from victims of financial services scams and misconduct, SME owners alleging mistreatment by banks, mortgage prisoners, whistleblowers and other significant stakeholders. We hope that word will spread among those who work or have worked at the FCA about this initiative and that they will be similarly forthcoming with their feedback about the regulator.”

To provide time for this feedback, the closing date for responses to the Call for Evidence has been extended to 11 October. Further information can be found here.

The APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services embarks on an important Call for Evidence about the FCA.

Peter Gibson, Member of Parliament for Darlington and Chair of the APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services, believes the time is right to give the public a chance to share their opinion about the Financial Conduct Authority.

He says:

“The Purpose Statement of the APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services is:

“To identify aspects of personal banking and financial services where the service providers or regulators have not delivered, or are not delivering, excellence and appropriate consumer protection; to facilitate and encourage all stakeholders to work together to resolve past and present shortcomings, and to bring about positive changes.”

In an attempt to better understand whether the financial regulators “…have not delivered, or are not delivering, excellence and appropriate consumer protection…” we are gathering evidence on what people think about the Financial Conduct Authority.

We have developed several sets of questions, each designed to fit a particular context depending on the individual’s circumstances. For example, there’s a question set for scam victims, another for whistleblowers, and another for people that have suffered as a result of poor conduct by the banks. There are six question sets in total.

We may consider running a similar exercise about other financial regulators in due course, but for now, it is just the FCA that is in scope in this particular Call for Evidence – we only want to gather opinions from people that have interacted with the FCA.

Our Call for Evidence is a positive, progressive and purposeful initiative. The overall objective is to improve our understanding of how the FCA is perceived. If the evidence we gather indicates there are problem areas, we can explore those issues further, with a view to proposing Evidence-Based remedies. Ultimately therefore, this initiative may lead to fresh policy thinking and reform, for the benefit for all, including of course the FCA itself.

Further details about this important initiative, can be found on our website at this web page:

https://www.appgifffs.org/call-for-evidence-about-the-fca ”

Ends.

Notes to Editors:

For a full list of the Parliamentarians involved in the APPG see here.
The operation of the Call for Evidence will be handled by the APPG’s Secretariat.
The APPG’s Purpose Statement is:

The initial point of contact regarding the APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services is the Char of its Secretariat, Andy Agathangelou, who can be reached here.

Peter Gibson MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services is calling for an independent report on the Blackmore Bond scandal.

Peter Gibson, Member of Parliament for Darlington and Chair of the APPG on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services believes the Blackmore Bond scandal provides further irrefutable evidence that the FCA is failing to regulate effectively.

Gibson states:

“Parliament has given the Financial Conduct Authority clear statutory objectives which include protecting consumers from harm but there is mounting evidence that the regulator is consistently failing to deliver.

It is obvious that the FCA is not for purpose. The real issue now is whether Parliament can get it to perform satisfactorily through transformational reform; or whether its issues are so deep-rooted that a more brutal approach is necessary. I hope it’s the former rather than the latter but one way or another we simply cannot tolerate a regulator that seems unable to score even when presented with an open goal.

The Purpose Statement for the APPG that I lead is:

‘To identify aspects of personal banking and financial services where the service providers or regulators have not delivered, or are not delivering, excellence and appropriate consumer protection; to facilitate and encourage all stakeholders to work together to resolve past and present shortcomings, and to bring about positive changes.’

The next step on Blackmore is simple – we need a swift independent report by Dame Gloster or somebody equally robust to investigate exactly what went wrong.

Meanwhile, it remains of systemic importance, particularly post-Brexit, that we can have confidence in those responsible for regulating our strategically-important financial sector.

Therefore, Parliament must gear up as necessary to scrutinise more closely the work that the FCA is doing because it is crystal clear that it is not functioning as Parliament wishes.”

Press coverage by Amy Austin, Senior Reporter at FT Adviser. APPG chair calls for inquiry into Blackmore Bond scandal

Peter Gibson MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services is calling for a Parliamentary debate to discuss what’s needed to get the Financial Conduct Authority fit for purpose.