Mortgage News
Call for Wheatley resignation after review ‘blunder’
Martin Wheatley, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is facing calls for his resignation after the regulator made an “extraordinary blunder” that hit insurers’ share prices, according to reports.
The Sunday Times reported that the Association of British Insurers is expected to write to chancellor George Osborne to complain about how information about an upcoming FCA project reached the public domain.
Last week, the Daily Telegraph reported that the regulator was to examine the contracts of long-standing customers in life insurance, pension and endowment contracts.
The news led to sharp falls in the share prices of several large insurance companies, including Aviva, Legal & General and Prudential, and forced the FCA to publish a clarification of the scope of its investigation, which wasn’t due to be announced until Monday.
Later on Friday, the regulator announced its Board would be calling on the assistance of external lawyers to assess its handling of the entire affair.
But that was not enough, according to Treasury Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie, who on Saturday said the regulator appeared to have made an “extraordinary blunder” and that any review must be independent.
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The Sunday Times reported sources at several UK insurance giants had told it they believed Wheatley’s position at FCA chief had become untenable.