FCA proceeds with year-old-email deletion scheme despite staff concerns

The FCA will begin automatically deleting one-year-old staff emails from 1 April 2026 even though apprehensions were raised by employees in the media. The move will only apply to emails received from this April by the regulator's 5,000 employees.

By Neasa MacErlean

Staff raised concerns with the Financial Times, which ran an article giving voice to their anxieties. As reported in the FT, they were told that they could store emails they considered important enough to be saved within its data repositories. They were also informed: "Any emails that should be retained to comply with regulatory and legal requirements, including the Freedom of Information Act, will be saved."