For advice on how Safecall can help your organisation install an FCA hotline and whistleblowing software solution so that you remain or become Financial Conduct Authority compliant, call us on +44 (0) 191516 7720 or send us an email to [email protected].
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Qu'est-ce que la Financial Conduct Authority ou FCA ?
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the conduct regulator for around 50,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK.
It is an independent body, funded by the firms it regulates rather than by government, and it exists to protect consumers, protect the integrity of the UK financial system, and promote effective competition in consumers’ interests.
The FCA authorises and supervises firms on an ongoing basis. Where a firm is suspected of breaking its rules, the FCA can require changes to products, withdraw them from sale, stop a firm trading, impose financial penalties, or pursue compensation for those affected.
Pourquoi la dénonciation est-elle pertinente pour la FCA ?
Reporting concerns about wrongdoing or non-compliance allows the FCA to check that the firms it regulates are operating safely and fairly. The FCA’s whistleblowing rules require firms to establish, implement and maintain appropriate and effective arrangements for the disclosure of reportable concerns by whistleblowers, including where confidentiality has been requested.
These arrangements sit alongside, rather than replace, UK whistleblowing law more broadly. For the foundation of UK whistleblower protection, see our page on the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA). Firms with market integrity obligations should also be aware of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), which whistleblowing channels also support.
What are the FCA’s new rules on non-financial misconduct?
On 1 September 2026, new FCA rules and guidance on non-financial misconduct (NFM) came into force. Non-financial misconduct covers behaviour that is not of a clearly financial nature, such as bullying, harassment and violence. Where it is serious and goes unchecked, the FCA considers it capable of harming individuals, firms and confidence in financial services.
The rules were finalised in Policy Statement PS25/23, following a consultation that ran during the summer of 2025. They are set out in three parts of the FCA Handbook:
- COCON 1.1.7FR extends the Code of Conduct to non-bank firms, bringing bullying, harassment or violence against a colleague within the Conduct Rules where there is a sufficient work-related link. This aligns non-banks, such as asset managers, insurers, brokers and wealth managers, with the position that has applied at banks for some time.
- Individual Conduct Rule 1 (integrity) has been clarified to cover serious bullying, harassment and victimisation, and Individual Conduct Rule 2 (skill, care and diligence) can be breached where a manager fails to take misconduct complaints seriously or escalate them appropriately.
- FIT (Fitness and Propriety) has a broader reach than COCON. It can take account of relevant misconduct wherever it occurs, including outside work, where it raises questions about an individual’s integrity or suitability to hold a regulated role.
Only serious misconduct will breach COCON. The FCA has aligned the seriousness threshold with the definition of harassment in the Equality Act 2010, namely unwanted conduct having the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Minor incidents of poor workplace behaviour that do not meet this threshold will not breach the rules. The rule is not retrospective, and it does not extend the FCA’s remit beyond firms and staff covered by the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR).
How do the non-financial misconduct rules relate to existing whistleblowing protections?
The new rules do not create a separate whistleblowing regime. They add a personal, regulatory layer of accountability that sits alongside protections that already exist in employment and equality law.
- PIDA remains unchanged. The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 continues to protect workers who make qualifying disclosures from detriment and dismissal, through the employment tribunal system. What is new is that a manager who mishandles a disclosure, for example by failing to escalate it or by retaliating against the person who made it, may separately breach a Conduct Rule and face individual regulatory consequences.
- The Employment Rights Act 2025 adds a direct overlap. From 6 April 2026, our Employment Rights Act 2025 page explains that disclosures about sexual harassment became qualifying disclosures under PIDA in their own right. Since sexual harassment sits within the FCA’s definition of non-financial misconduct, the same complaint can now trigger whistleblower protection and a COCON assessment at the same time.
- The Worker Protection Act 2023 duty is separate, not superseded. Our page on the Worker Protection Act 2023 covers the employer’s duty to take reasonable steps, rising to all reasonable steps from October 2026, to prevent sexual harassment. That is a firm-level statutory duty. COCON’s manager-conduct obligation is a personal regulatory rule for individuals. The two reinforce one another but are assessed independently.
A single incident of workplace harassment reported through a whistleblowing channel can therefore now sit within several legal frameworks at once: an employment tribunal claim under PIDA and the Equality Act 2010, a Conduct Rules breach for the individual involved, and, potentially, a Conduct Rules breach for a manager who did not handle the disclosure appropriately. The FCA’s own position is that firms need one coherent speak-up and investigation framework capable of satisfying all of these at once, rather than treating them separately.
What does this mean for regulated firms?
Firms subject to the SM&CR should review the effect of the new rules across several areas:
- Staff policies, so that they reflect NFM as a Conduct Rules matter, not solely an HR or disciplinary issue.
- Conduct breach reporting, to capture serious bullying, harassment or violence appropriately.
- Fitness and propriety assessments and annual certification decisions, which may now need to take non-financial misconduct into account.
- Regulatory references, to ensure they reflect any substantiated findings correctly.
- Manager training, so that those receiving disclosures understand their own obligations to escalate, investigate proportionately and protect the individual raising concerns.
Comment les organisations peuvent-elles s'y préparer ?
The organisations best placed to meet the new expectations are those building robust reporting and investigation processes now, rather than waiting for a case to test them.
Réexaminez et mettez à jour votre politique en matière de signalement d'irrégularités
Policies should make clear that non-financial misconduct, including bullying, harassment and violence, can be reported through the whistleblowing channel and may engage both employment protections and the FCA Conduct Rules.
Mettre en place une ligne téléphonique indépendante pour les dénonciations
An independently operated channel is one of the clearest ways to demonstrate that a firm takes disclosures seriously, particularly where a concern involves a manager or senior individual. Safecall’s whistleblowing solutions provide a secure, confidential, multi-channel reporting service, available 24/7, 365 days a year, in over 175 languages, and handled by call handlers with more than 25 years’ experience each.
Veiller à ce que les enquêtes soient impartiales
How a disclosure is investigated is scrutinised as closely as how it was received. Safecall’s investigation services provide independent, impartial workplace investigations, including fully outsourced investigations, critical friend case analysis and impartial witness interviewing, conducted by former senior UK police officers.
Train managers, staff and the board
Managers need to recognise non-financial misconduct, understand their escalation obligations, and know how to support someone who has raised a concern. Safecall’s training services include CPD-accredited courses on tackling sexual harassment, whistleblowing training for managers and investigation training, available online and on-site.
Frequently asked questions about the FCA’s non-financial misconduct rules
When do the FCA’s non-financial misconduct rules take effect?
The new rule, COCON 1.1.7FR, and the accompanying guidance in PS25/23 came into force on 1 September 2026. The rule is not retrospective and applies only to conduct occurring on or after that date.
Do the rules apply only to banks?
No. Non-bank firms operating under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, including asset managers, insurers, brokers and wealth managers, are now within scope. Banks have operated under a similar regime for some time.
Do these rules replace PIDA or the whistleblowing framework?
No. PIDA and firms’ existing whistleblowing arrangements are unchanged. The new rules add a further, personal layer of regulatory accountability that applies alongside them.
What counts as serious non-financial misconduct?
The FCA has aligned the threshold with the definition of harassment in the Equality Act 2010: unwanted conduct having the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. Minor workplace friction that does not meet this threshold will not breach COCON.
Are FCA rules the same thing as legislation?
No. FCA rules, including COCON and FIT, are made by the FCA under powers given to it by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA), which is itself an Act of Parliament. The rules are binding on firms and individuals within their scope, but they are regulatory rules made under delegated authority, not primary legislation.
What should firms do now?
Review whistleblowing policies, fitness and propriety assessments, conduct breach reporting and manager training, and ensure reporting channels and investigation processes can withstand regulatory scrutiny.
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