The House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee has written to the FCA making several criticisms of its proposals to name firms under investigation. It is particularly critical that the paper explicitly rules out taking account of the impact of disclosure on the investigation subject, and that the FCA has not carried out a cost-benefit analysis of its proposals on the basis that it is not making any new rules.
The Committee says the proposals risk:
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having a disproportionate effect on firms named in the investigations where firms are then cleared of any wrongdoing;
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the overall integrity of the market - for example because of possible unwarranted impacts on share prices;
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individuals being tarnished by having their names linked with an investigation even if their actual names are not published.
It asks the FCA to give it more information on several issues, including:
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numbers of investigations into firms and individuals;
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what percentage of closed investigations resul