Lobbying victories for the City do not come much more comprehensive. Last year, the Financial Conduct Authority, the industry regulator, put forward a proposal that it should be able to name firms under investigation more frequently.
Greater openness at an earlier stage, argued the FCA, could deter bad behaviour and protect consumers. A “public interest” test on disclosure would be better than the existing “exceptional circumstances” rule that was so stifling that the FCA was silent even as British Steel pensioners, in a well-publicised scandal in 2017, were fleeced by unscrupulous financial advisers who gave them terrible advice.
