Non-financial misconduct to be considered rules breach under updated framework

Effective from September 2026

Non-financial misconduct, including bullying and harassment, within financial services firms will amount to a breach of the code of conduct rules, the Financial Conduct Authority has stated.

In a policy paper today (2 July), the regulator explained that, in the past, there was a lack of clarity around the treatment of these types of misconduct in regulated firms other than banks, especially about whether they should be considered as breaches of conduct rules. However, under the updated framework, bullying, harassment and violence will be added to the code of conduct as misconduct and should be treated as such by both firms and the regulator. Zero cases of non-financial misconduct have been opened by FCA in two years From 1 September 2026, the extension to the conduct r...