More complaints about compliance are reported to the U.K.’s financial services watchdog than any other kind of potential misconduct, and even if few of them result in investigation or censure, experts believe such reports help inform future supervision and enforcement and send a strong message to firms about what kind of conduct will not be tolerated.
Employees’ willingness to raise concerns externally to the U.K. regulator rather than through their organizations’ own internal reporting hotlines should also sound alarm bells for financial services firms’ own speak-up arrangements, say experts.
