Whistleblowing in financial services

When are letters of complaint about a member of staff a protected whistleblowing disclosure? This question recently tripped up CEO Jes Staley and engulfed Barclays in another scandal. Alexandra Carn considers recent rules about whistleblowing and the steps that relevant firms should be taking now.

Alexandra Carn (alexandra.carn@edwincoe.com) is a partner who specialises in employment matters at law firm Edwin Coe.

On 10 May 2017 Jes Staley, the chief executive of Barclays, made a public apology concerning his role in trying to uncover the identity of a whistleblower that had made confidential and anonymous disclosures to the Barclays board. He now faces an internal investigation and investigations by the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority. Mr Staley’s actions were against a background of increasing awareness of protection for whistleblowers and a raft of recent legislation specific to the financial services sector. However, it would appear that there is more work to be done.