Time for a new PR story at the FCA

The City regulator is getting it in the neck as usual, something it only partially deserves.

The strike against the watchdog, presently the Financial Conduct Authority (though the complaints are the same whatever it is called), are these:

1) It is too slow to track down the bad guys and administer proper punishment.

2) Its regulations are onerous in ways that scare away good businesses and cost the country money.

An alternative narrative could be that it follows due legal process and that the bad guys always have expensive lawyers.

And also the rules are there for a reason.

The latest blast came after the regulator said it would “name and shame” companies under investigation more frequently and at an earlier stage.

This move caused anger in both City and government circles, we read, and the FCA was quickly under pressure to abandon the idea.

One senior MP told the FT: “The FCA are a massive deadweight on the competitiveness of the UK.”

As if our MPs are shining examples of how we Brits like to do things.

In any case, I’d say its failure to spot investment scams earlier is far worse than its niggly rules, and that the FCA needs to change the narrative that surrounds it.

The City’s eagerness to chase whichever new fad comes by – crypto, AI, cloud computing – just shows it likes to make a quick buck.

The government’s willingness to bend over backwards to woo such new schemes is unbecoming, to say the least.

How about instead, the FCA, after properly winning the government over, plays up the regulations as a strength – as a reason to do business in London.

The City is a strict club and these are the rules of membership.

If you can’t match those standards, ladies and gentlemen, then feel free to try your luck elsewhere.

To the dodgy schemers, never mind about name and shame after they are already in operation, the FCA bouncer could say: your name is not on the list. So you can’t come in.

The value of this is manifold, not least that the very rich investor who is used to getting his way discovers that he can’t get the rules bent in his favour. Which, he realises, means no one else can either.

At the moment, the FCA is regarded as neither a tough watchdog nor a welcoming place for the start-up entrepreneur.

Time for it to change the narrative.