MPs blast watchdog’s “Nuremberg defence”
Junior bankers should not be allowed to claim they were “only obeying orders” when they mis-sell financial products to consumers, MPs said today in a row with the Financial Conduct Authority.
Allowing front line sales staff to use the excuse amounts to a “post-modern Nuremberg defence,” said Mark Garnier, an MP on the Treasury Select Committee
The MPs want all staff who can harm a bank’s reputation to be covered by a new certification regime, covering the structure of their pay and the incentives their bonuses create.
But the FCA’s boss Martin Wheatley (pictured) said sales staff at Lloyds – which was fined by the watchdog for creating a risk that staff were under pressure to sell products instead of treating customers well – did not always know what they were doing was wrong, but simply responding to incentives laid out by more senior managers.
“In aggregate the incentives created consumer detriment, and the people who implemented and monitored those will be covered in future,” said Wheatley.
“But it is hard to conclude that everyone on receiving end of those incentives should be in the certification scheme, unless we conclude that anyone in a bank with any selling responsibility should be covered by that scheme.”
Tyrie said the FCA boss was using “FSA speak,” indicating he fears Wheatley has not embraced the cultural changes brought about by the replacement of the Financial Services Authority.
The MP also said he worries the demands made by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards are not yet “in the bloodstream of the FCA.”