In Regulatory Wrap for the week to July 11, Rob Mason recounts the FCA’s decision to expand misconduct rules to 37,000 non-banking firms in 2026.
In this week’s Regulatory Wrap, we review the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) commitment to broaden its non-financial misconduct (NFM) rules to non-bank firms starting in September 2026, meaning they will be required to meet the same standards as banking firms.
1. These rules clarify the types of behaviors – notably bullying and harassment – that classify as a conduct rules breach, as serious cases of poor personal conduct must be raised to regulators in the same way as financial misconduct
2. This ensures that individuals in breach of NFM rules won’t be able to avoid consequences of misbehavior by moving from one firm to another
3. The UK government is taking measures to ensure that firms can’t use non-disclosure agreements to silence employees that have been the victim of harassment, bullying, or discrimination
4. Last year, the FCA issued surprising results from its survey on non-financial misconduct incident rates at firms between 2021-2023
5. The regulator also suggested that firms consider the influence of social media and the relevance of behavior in personal life as an indicator of NFM in the workplace
This episode is brought to you by Global Relay’s Director of Regulatory Intelligence, Rob Mason.
The FCA has emphasized that NFM is just as big of a concern as financial misconduct, therefore, firms must evidence they’re doing their part in monitoring communications to ensure good conduct.
