Andrew Bailey at the Financial Conduct Authority seems like a nice fellow. Regulators aren’t known for being open and chatty but he’s not bad at all. A human. It’s hard not to think that he missed a good opportunity today, however.
The FCA’s handling of the London Capital & Finance scandal can hardly be described as stellar. Bluntly, they were warned about it, and missed it.
The FCA says that while it regulated LCF, it didn’t regulate the products that firm was selling and agrees that perhaps it should in future.
Either way, it hasn’t covered itself in glory. Today the FCA launched its Business Plan for 2019/2020. Bailey talked about the LCF stuff and confirmed that there will be an independent investigation into its handling of the matter.
At some point, someone at the FCA is going to have to say “we should have done much better, we are sorry”.
I don’t see why today wasn’t the day. It might not be Bailey’s fault at all, but, well, he is the boss.
In almost any argument, the quickest way to move it along to a more peaceful place is to start with “I am sorry”.
Business folk could get used to saying it a lot more readily, I think.
