The new rule, COCON 1.1.7FR, brings non-financial misconduct explicitly within scope of the FCA’s Conduct Rules for the first time in non-banking firms, aligning them with a standard that has applied to banks for several years. The FCA has deliberately avoided a closed list of what counts as misconduct, describing it broadly as behaviour “not of a clearly financial nature,” with bullying, harassment, sexual misconduct and violence named explicitly, provided the conduct is sufficiently serious and has a genuine work-related link. The threshold for seriousness is aligned with the definition of harassment under the Equality Act 2010. From today, firms must also disclose verified misconduct incidents through regulatory references when staff move between employers.
