IT is “highly unlikely” that a report into an RBS restructuring group that mistreated small businesses will be published before a deadline imposed by MPs, but the City watchdog agreed to send them a copy before then.
Treasury Select Committee chair Nicky Morgan had ordered the head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Andrew Bailey, to release its report into the state-owned bank’s Global Restructuring Group (GRG).
But Bailey wrote to Morgan yesterday, saying that “legal impediments” made it improbable that the FCA would be able to publish before the February 16 deadline.
The legal hurdles include having to obtain the consent of “all persons from whom information was obtained” and “to whom the information relates”.
The watchdog said the law also required it to give anyone criticised in the report a “fair opportunity to respond” prior to publication.
While Bailey said the FCA would write to those named in the report to obtain consent and offer them the right of reply, it was unlikely these would be obtained before the deadline.
“Given these legal impediments to which we are subject, we think it is highly unlikely that it will be possible for the FCA to publish the report by 16 February,” his letter read.
However, he added that the FCA will hand over a copy to Morgan by the deadline.
She responded: “I am pleased to see that the FCA is trying to get the report agreed for publication or handed to the Committee to meet its deadline.”
The FCA chief cautioned the MPs against publishing the report using their parliamentary privilege.
“If the committee decides itself to publish the report, it will no doubt want to consider carefully the precedent of publishing a document obtained from the FCA under Parliamentary Privilege where the FCA considers that it is legally constrained from publishing the document itself.”
The exchange came after Bailey’s hours-long grilling by the influential committee on Wednesday, in which the bank’s shortcomings were again under the spotlight.
RBS has been dogged by claims that its Global Restructuring Group intentionally pushed small firms towards failure in the hope of picking up their assets on the cheap.
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