In an amusing piece of schadenfreude a regulator was taken to task for a mistake that sent insurance stocks stumbling.
In an amusing piece of schadenfreude a regulator was taken to task for a mistake that sent insurance stocks stumbling.
A parliamentary committee accused the Financial Conduct Authority of Britain, the country’s top regulator, of making a “serious error” in providing an exclusive briefing to a newspaper reporter last year on its plans to review the life insurance industry.
The regulator also erred in not responding quickly after the report inadvertently sent British insurance stocks down sharply.
In March 2014 the authority announced it would review whether longstanding customers had been treated fairly by their insurers. The Daily Telegraph first reported the news and the authority later confirmed the story sending insurance stocks crashing on March 28th.
The Treasury Select Committee of the British Parliament said in a report that the Financial Conduct Authority created a “major self-inflicted distraction” from its core purpose of ensuring that markets operate properly in Britain and failed to live up to the standards it requires of listed companies
“By breaching its own listing rules, it created a false market in life insurance shares,” said Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the committee. “In doing so, it put its own statutory objectives at risk.
“The evidence from this episode suggests that problems may still exist at the F.C.A. It is not yet clear to the committee that the F.C.A. has fully grasped this.”
The Financial Conduct Authority said in December that four of its senior leaders, including its chief executive, Martin Wheatley, would forgo bonuses for the 2013-14 fiscal year, and that other members of its executive committee would have their bonuses reduced by 25 per cent.
A parliamentary committee accused the Financial Conduct Authority of Britain, the country’s top regulator, of making a “serious error” in providing an exclusive briefing to a newspaper reporter last year on its plans to review the life insurance industry.
The regulator also erred in not responding quickly after the report inadvertently sent British insurance stocks down sharply.
In March 2014 the authority announced it would review whether longstanding customers had been treated fairly by their insurers. The Daily Telegraph first reported the news and the authority later confirmed the story sending insurance stocks crashing on March 28th.
The Treasury Select Committee of the British Parliament said in a report that the Financial Conduct Authority created a “major self-inflicted distraction” from its core purpose of ensuring that markets operate properly in Britain and failed to live up to the standards it requires of listed companies
“By breaching its own listing rules, it created a false market in life insurance shares,” said Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the committee. “In doing so, it put its own statutory objectives at risk.
“The evidence from this episode suggests that problems may still exist at the F.C.A. It is not yet clear to the committee that the F.C.A. has fully grasped this.”
The Financial Conduct Authority said in December that four of its senior leaders, including its chief executive, Martin Wheatley, would forgo bonuses for the 2013-14 fiscal year, and that other members of its executive committee would have their bonuses reduced by 25 per cent.
