The Financial Services Culture Board (FSCB) – a body aiming to improve the standards and culture of the financial services sector – is to close after eight years due to finances drying up.
FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi praised the body, for “taking huge strides to improve culture following the financial crisis.”
He said: “Everyone at the FSCB should be proud of the huge body of work it has undertaken to understand what we mean by culture within financial firms, how we measure it and, crucially, how we change it for the better. It has been our pleasure to work closely with them on much of this work and I want to pay particular tribute to Alison for her leadership on this vital issue across industry.”
The FSCB said in a statement that it will close its doors this year after the board decided that, while solvent, the FSCB was, “not viable as a going concern over the medium term and therefore cannot continue operating through the 2023 membership year.”
The FSCB describes itself as a not-for-profit, voluntary membership body which has helped member firms – individually and collectively – to raise “standards of behaviour and competence across the sector, for the benefit of customers, clients, the economy and society as a whole.”
The FSCB said it had reviewed its finances at the beginning of this year and was “not confident” that its income will pay for its work this year.
In a statement the FSCB said: “It is with sad news we announce that after nearly eight years, the FSCB is closing its doors in 2023. We would like to recognise and extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to those many individuals & organisations that have been part of this initiative.”
“We are proud of the work we have undertaken with so many member firms, individually and collectively, over the past eight years, as well as of everything we have had the privilege of working on with so many other firms, academics, regulators, industry bodies within financial services and elsewhere, and a host of other organisations in the public and private sectors, both in the UK and globally.
“We have played our part in promoting action on mental health at work, speaking up, skills, inclusion and many other issues that matter to all of us, whether as employees, consumers or businesses.”
The body was originally set up in 2015 as the Banking Standards Board (BSB) but relaunched in 2021 with a wider remit as the Financial Services Culture Board.
Despite closing down the FSCB has called on the sector to do all it can to continue to raise standards both in the workplace and for customers as the new FCA Consumer Duty arrives.
The FSCB is led by Alison Cottrell who took up her role in 2015 when the organisation was launched. She is a former City of London economist and joined the Treasury in 2001, becoming director of financial services in 2009 with responsibility for a wide range of policy areas including bank lending, payments, competition and pensions guidance. She combined this role for the three years to 2014 with that of director of corporate services, focusing on staff development, engagement and culture.
The FSCB has provided quantitative and qualitative research and run behavioural trials to help firms understand and address issues that are central to good cultures and good outcomes. Themes have included speaking up, wellbeing, resilience, inclusion and diversity.
The organisation has also shared learning and experience across the financial services sector and provided a place for firms to learn from each other in a, “non-competitive, honest and open environment, informing the production of good practice guidance.”
The board has regularly run employee surveys and has provided a database on organisational culture. It has also run a variety of events, workshops, training activities and courses, and publish data-led blogs, articles and research.
It works with industry stakeholders and civil society bodies, and partners including the Financial Services Skills Commission, the FICC Markets Standards Board, the Social Mobility Taskforce and the Institute for Business Ethics.
In a statement Mr Rathi said: “As the FSCB notes… the job of developing and maintaining good workplace cultures is not done and indeed will never be complete. As we continue the work with the firms we regulate, particularly as they implement our new Consumer Duty, we will draw on many of the lessons the FSCB has helped us learn.”
