Gina Miller calls for FCA chair’s resignation following ‘anti-consumer behaviour’
Campaigners have called on FCA chair Charles Randell to step down following concerns that the regulator’s compensation scheme could leave consumers unable to claim monetary compensation if the FCA itself is at fault.
Gina and Alan Miller claimed the City regulator was potentially behaving in an unlawful and anti-consumer way.
They said that while the FCA has said it will compensate consumers for the regulator’s failures, in reality, and because of the wording of its Complaints Scheme, “almost no claimant could ever again be monetarily compensated for the contributing factor of the FCA’s own regulatory failures”.
In an open letter to Randell, the pair pointed out that the FCA said it will compensate consumers as a direct result of “actions or inaction of the FCA”, but under the regulator’s current Complaints Scheme, last updated in 2016, a consumer must have lost out “solely or primarily” by the actions or inactions of the FCA.
The Millers, who run the ‘True and Fair’ campaign, which aims to achieve better consumer outcomes from financial services, said that it was “almost inconceivable” that the FCA could ever be considered the sole cause of a loss, because the financial loss will inevitably involve a third-party firm or individual.
As a result, they said, almost no claimant could ever gain monetary compensation for the FCA’s regulatory failures.
In a statement, Gina and Allan Miller said: “The changes we have identified in the FCA Complaints Scheme have taken place on the watch of its chair, Charles Randell. Mr Randell appears to sanction changes that would make it almost impossible for future victims of scandals such as London Capital & Finance to receive any monetary compensation for any regulatory failures by the FCA.
“With power comes responsibility and integrity, but the serious issues identified by True and Fair are so egregious that there can be only one honourable outcome – namely for Mr Randell to step down and the government launch an independent inquiry into governance at the FCA. If football fans deserve nothing less, so do consumers of financial services.”
An FCA spokesperson said: “We are sending the Millers a reply which responds to the issues about the complaints scheme they have raised.
“We have consulted on the changes to the scheme to simplify the wording of the scheme and to provide more clarity about how complaints will be dealt with in particular where ex gratia payments will be made.
“The scheme was set up to investigate complaints against the FCA and was not intended to be a compensation scheme of last resort when things go wrong. We investigate every complaint fully and they can result in changes to the way we operate.”