FCA exec apologises for insurance review failings

Back in March, the then-director of the FCA Clive Adamson announced a probe into closed-book policies dating back to the 1970s, causing shares of major insurance companies to drop by up to 22% before the review was clarified.

It was reported that the FCA would investigate companies' high exit charges, when they only intended to gather information surrounding the way in which customers subject to those charges were being treated.

In a report published last week, Clifford Chance partner Simon Davis criticised the way the FCA handled market sensitive information, and the length of time the firm took to clarify the review.

Adamson lost a bonus of up to £72,750, before announcing he would be leaving the organisation as part of 'structural changes'.

Speaking during an appearance before the Treasury Select Committee, Adamson apologised, stating that he didn't believe the review had the potential to move markets, and that “it wasn’t a question of arrogance. It was a mistake, a serious mistake.”

He added:

"I absolutely regret what happened. I take responsibility for my part in that and I apologise.

"I think we all accept it is a very serious incident and I think we have all realised the influence and power the organisation does have.

“Do I think there is a systemic problem about co-ordination in the organisation? I don’t think there is… I think one of the things that went wrong here is that we were unused to a self-caused crisis. We were caught off guard by that.

Later, when discussing the FCA, he added that "one of the things that this exposed is that in a crisis, it just struggled to operate.”