FCA appoints lawyer to conduct insurance leak investigation

9th Apr 2014 08:26

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed an independent lawyer to conduct an investigation into leaked information about a review of the insurance sector.The regulator on Tuesday afternoon said it had appointed a partner at law firm Clifford Chance, Simon Davis, to conduct an inquiry, but he will be overseen by a committee of non-executive FCA board members.The government's Treasury Select Committee's Chairman, Andrew Tyrie, said in a statement on Tuesday: "It is vital that this investigation is wholly independent of the regulator."The insurance industry body, the ABI, had called for an inquiry after £6bn was wiped off the value of listed insurers, including Aviva, Legal & General and Prudential, when some of the review's details were leaked to newspaper by an FCA insider.What has angered insurance bosses most is that the regulator waited until 14:30 the following day before clarifying its exact intentions for the sector review.The FCA has set out "terms of reference" for the inquiry, including addressing issues such as "why and with whose knowledge and authorisation was this briefing given, particularly to a single journalist"; "what procedures exist to identify and control the release of price-sensitive information"; and "why the FCA's clarificatory statement was issued so late during the day after the story was published, rather than Thursday night".OH