UK: New FCA and PRA whistleblowing rules

The FCA and the PRA have both published policy statements on their new rules on whistleblowing as part of their series of policy changes focused on strengthening individual accountability within the banking and insurance sectors:

• FCA policy statement (PS15/24) entitled "Whistleblowing in deposit-takers, PRA-designated investment firms and insurers"; and
• PRA policy statement (PS24/15), also entitled "Whistleblowing in deposit-takers, PRA-designated investment firms and insurers" (Appendix 1, Appendix 2, Appendix 3) and accompanied by a supervisory statement (SS39/15).

These rules supplement the statutory protections all employees and workers have pursuant to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (the PIDA).

The bulk of the rules apply from 7 September 2016. However, the requirement for relevant firms to appoint a "whistleblowers' champion" applies from 7 March 2016, coinciding with the implementation of the Senior Managers Regime (SMR), Certification Regime and Senior Insurance Managers Regime (SIMR). The whistleblowers' champion will then become responsible for overseeing implementation of the new rules.

Our full briefing discussing the implications of the new rules, and highlighting action points for firms to consider now, is available here.