The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed Promontory Financial Group and Mazars to conduct an independent skilled persons report under section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000.
The report will examine Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) treatment of business customers in financial difficulty and consider allegations of poor practice set out in the report by Dr Lawrence Tomlinson and referenced in Sir Andrew Large’s report.
The first stage of the review will consider RBS’ treatment of a sample of customers referred to its Global Restructuring Group. This will include some cases where customers have already raised concerns with Dr Tomlinson, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and the FCA.
The review will also consider whether any poor practices identified are widespread and systematic. If this is the case, the second stage of the review will identify the root cause of these issues and make recommendations to address any shortcomings identified.
The FCA expects to publish the outcomes from the review in Q3 2014. Whilst commercial lending is not a regulated activity under FSMA, if the findings reveal issues which come within the FCA’s remit, the FCA will consider further regulatory measures.