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Reports of bullying and other incidents of non-financial misconduct across the UK’s finance sector have risen by more than two-thirds in the past three years, the City regulator has found.
There were 7.2 incidents per 1,000 employees across the sector during 2023, compared with 4.2 incidents in 2021, according to a census of more than 1,000 firms carried out by the Financial Conduct Authority.
The category of “non-financial misconduct” covers complaints ranging from sexual harassment and racism to bringing unwanted pets into the office.
One in four of the incidents reported last year relate to bullying, while discrimination accounted for 23 per cent, the FCA said, adding that the rising overall numbers could indicate an increased willingness to speak up rather than an actual rise in levels of wrongdoing.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury select committee in Parliament, said the findings might show that the sector was “going backwards”.
The committee previously “found a shocking prevalence of sexual harassment and bullying in the finance sector, and a culture which is holding back women,” she said.
There has been a greater awareness of and falling tolerance for non-financial misconduct after a series of high-profile cases.
Hedge fund founder Crispin Odey last year left the company he founded after an investigation by the Financial Times reported claims of sexual harassment and assault against him, which he disputes. Separately, employees elsewhere have looked to the employment tribunals to settle allegations of non-financial misconduct.
Firms directly took action on the complaint in 43 per cent of cases, the FCA’s mandatory survey found. However, consequences rarely involved financial penalties.
When remuneration was adjusted it usually related to unvested, variable pay. Action was also more often taken over violence and intimidation rather than areas such as discrimination, the survey found.
Confidentiality and settlement agreements in the banking sector also fell over the three years, it found. While no reasons were given for the drop, there has been a widespread backlash to non-disclosure agreements, particularly over sexual harassment or assault claims in the wake of allegations against film mogul Harvey Weinstein.
This is the first year the regulator has carried out the survey, as it aims to improve transparency across the sector.
“In being transparent we hope financial firms can benchmark themselves against their peers,” said Sarah Pritchard, who runs the FCA’s markets division and international division. “We want this data to support financial firms by providing their management teams and boards with an opportunity to consider if they stand out, and, if so, why that might be.”
The regulator will issue fresh guidance to firms later this year on how to deal with non-financial misconduct cases.
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