‘Abject failure’: U.K. lawmakers sound off on FCA’s failed 'naming and shaming' enforcement

U.K. lawmakers slammed the country’s chief financial regulator’s hopes of “naming and shaming” firms as part of its efforts to beef up enforcement, denting its credibility in the process and questioning the leadership of its chief executive.

The criticism is likely to result in the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) either watering down its proposals to name the financial firms it is investigating or abandoning them altogether as two flawed attempts in the past 12 months have succeeded in both riling the industry and a key parliamentary committee.

Michael Forsyth, chairman of the House of Lords Financial Services Regulation Committee, called the FCA’s consultation attempts to change its enforcement tactics “an abject failure.”