FCA exposed for 'shameful' behaviour at its London HQ

FCA exposed for ‘shameful’ behaviour at its London HQ

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
14th November 2019

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been exposed for “shameful” behaviour in its London headquarters, including defecating on the toilet floors and verbally abusing catering and security staff.

The move to the new Stratford office was completed last year

The Evening Standard reports the FCA’s COO Georgina Philippou published an internal note to staff who work at its Stratford, east London office calling the behaviours “so distasteful and shameful”.

The move to the new Stratford office was completed last year, leaving the regulatory authority’s previous headquarters in Canary Wharf, which had housed employees since the 1990s.

“You may have heard about some of these behaviours already and I’m sure others will come as a shock,” Philippou begins.

The COO then preceded to list some of these behaviours: “Leaving cutlery and crockery in the kitchen areas, overflowing bins, stealing plants and charging cables from desks, catering and security teams being subject to verbal abuse, colleagues defecating on the floor in toilet cubicles on a particular floor, urinating on the floor in the men’s toilets and leaving alcohol bottles in sanitary bins.”

Philippou says she deliberated whether to post the note: “I did think long and hard about whether to disclose all these behaviours because they are so distasteful and shameful but keeping quiet has not got us far in terms of changing behaviours. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated here.”

These “shameful” behaviours follow other issues the authority has had with the new offices. Just weeks into the new premises being opened near London’s Olympic Park, hundreds of staff were forced to go home after water dried up in the building’s toilets.

On the most recent issues with the new office, an FCA spokeswoman tells the Evening Standard: “We have a duty as an employer to highlight this sort of behaviour and our senior management are clear it is simply unacceptable.

“Judging from the feedback we have received on the article, our staff agree.”