Our data shows the number of new whistleblowing reports we received between January and March 2022 and how the information was received.
We assess every whistleblowing case we receive that falls within our remit, to inform our work and help us identify actual or potential harm. This could be harm to consumers, to markets, to the UK economy or to wider society.
What we can share
We know that greater transparency about the whistleblowing reports we receive is important and we are constantly striving to improve the information we make public.
However, our casework with firms will usually involve confidential information for the purposes of section 348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). So we are unlikely to be able to provide more information about particular cases.
Find out more about the information we can share[1].
Whistleblowing reports
Our Whistleblowing team receives reports by telephone, email, our online reporting form and post.
In 2022 Q1 (January - March), we received 276 new whistleblowing reports.
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Data table
Figure 1 shows that we received most of the new reports in 2022 Q1 via the online reporting form.
A whistleblower can choose to remain anonymous when making a report through any of our reporting options. Whistleblowers need to feel comfortable when making a report so they can provide relevant and sufficient detail to help our review of their concerns.
Our Whistleblowing team reviews all reports to make sure we manage information from whistleblowers appropriately. We redirect any information we get from consumers or firms to other relevant teams to consider, such as our Supervision Hub.
Whistleblowing contact details
We accept reports from both anonymous and named whistleblowers.
Protecting the identities of the whistleblowers who contact us is vital. We understand they may be hesitant to share their personal information with us when making a disclosure.
When whistleblowers provide us with a way to contact them it can be helpful. We may contact the whistleblower to discuss their concerns further and understand how we can protect their identity while we carry out our work.
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Data table
Figure 2 shows that in most of the reports we received in 2022 Q1, whistleblowers provided us with their contact details.
Whistleblowing allegations
Every report we receive will contain one or more allegations of wrongdoing. We received 276 reports in this quarter, containing 540 allegations in total.
Typically, the reports we receive will contain allegations that fall under the following 5 overarching themes:
- fitness and propriety
- treating customers fairly
- FSMA
- culture
- compliance
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Data table
In Figure 3 we list the top 10 allegations made in whistleblowing reports in this period.
SYSC 18 sets out our rules and guidance for firms concerning their internal whistleblowing systems. Where we have categorised whistleblower allegations as “SYSC 18”, this refers to the alleged poor handling of a whistleblowing disclosure by a firm. Allegations would include harm to an employee or ex-employee, the lack of an appropriate speak up system or a failure of that system.
Our Supervision division typically assesses reports about SYSC 18, with each allegation considered separately. Multiple reports about a firm may highlight a trend or indicate wider problems with its approach to staff ‘speaking up’ and blowing the whistle.
Copyright
The data on this page is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence[2].