Whistleblowing Update

The war stories emerging from the 2007/2008 financial crisis predominantly blame the bankers for its creation, in tandem with allegations of weak regulation. Since the mid noughties the UK financial services regulatory regime has undergone a significant overhaul, resulting in a far tougher regulator with a keen eye on individual accountability. The UK's new whistleblowing rules will bolster that position.

On 6 October, following recommendations by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards in 2013, the UK financial regulators (the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority) introduced new whistleblowing rules. In practice, what this means is that by 7 March 2016 relevant firms must have appointed a sufficiently senior 'whistle-blowers' champion' who must have the firm sufficiently prepared for the new whistleblowing regime by September 2016. The new rules will require a firm to: