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The chairman of Britain’s financial regulator has been accused of breaching the confidentiality of an internal whistleblower who wrote to him asking for help, in breach of the code of conduct he oversees.

Ashley Alder, chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, forwarded us correspondence from December and March, with the complainant’s name, address and concerns unchanged, emails show.

The FCA’s whistleblowing policy states: “Your identity will not be disclosed without your consent.”

The whistleblower was dismissed from the watchdog in 2021 over alleged misconduct and also lost an employment tribunal case against the authority, a decision they are appealing. However, their concerns about alleged opaque hiring practices described to Alder prompted an internal investigation.

The FCA has also launched a second internal audit following the whistleblower’s correspondence, which will look at the watchdog’s process for deciding whether allegations of misconduct should be formally investigated internally.

The regulator has already faced criticism over its treatment of whistleblowers. Last year, the Information Commissioner’s Office ruled that the FCA had breached its data protection obligations. The Times reported that the case involved the FCA allegedly intercepting and diverting staff correspondence, including confidential emails from whistleblowers, to track people it considered a nuisance.

In a separate case in 2018, the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner criticised the FCA for revealing the identity of a Royal Bank of Scotland whistleblower to the bank, although the FCA said at the time that the claims against the bank now known as NatWest “were found to be without merit”.

The FCA requires regulated firms to have internal complaint-filing policies that promise confidentiality, and to report annually on how well they are doing. Former Barclays CEO Jes Staley was fined more than £600,000 by the FCA and the Bank of England in 2018 after she tried to uncover the identity of an anonymous whistleblower.

Despite these strict rules for firms regulated by the FCA, Alder forwarded the individual’s uncensored emails to two other people within the FCA and referred them to a third person who had “informed” others about the matter, according to the emails seen by Banking Risk & Regulation, a service of FT Specialist.

The FCA’s policy promises: “We will make every effort to keep your identity confidential… If there is a need for someone other than the original recipient of your disclosure to know your identity, we will discuss this with you before your identity is disclosed.”

The ex-employee had raised concerns via a dedicated hotline in October, and then wrote to Alder and FCA whistleblowing champion Liam Coleman in December after the whistleblower felt their concerns had only been partially heard.

Alder did not respond to them, nor did he indicate that he might distribute the information to other people, the whistleblower said. Coleman did respond in detailed correspondence with the complainant.

The whistleblower’s emails were marked “PRIVATE — TO THE ADDRESSEE ONLY” and cited the FCA’s policy of requesting anonymity, even from Alder’s private secretary, the man said.

The FCA declined to comment on whether the employees who, alongside Alder and Coleman, viewed the emails were part of the official team that handles whistleblowing complaints.

The whistleblower said he was “angry, stunned and speechless” when he saw the forwarded emails, calling it an “institutional betrayal” and accusing the FCA of “incompetence and incapacity”.

FCA employees are required to undertake mandatory whistleblowing training annually, although “it appears that this requirement does not apply to the FCA Chairman,” the whistleblower said.

“What this case really shows is that the FCA has not got its own house in order and therefore casts serious doubt on its ability to provide leadership and discharge its duties as a supervisor of those it regulates,” said Georgina Halford-Hall, chief executive of WhistleblowersUK, who called on Alder to “fall on his own sword”.

The nonprofit has been pushing for a whistleblower bill that would establish an independent watchdog to set standards and investigate violations.

Alder did not respond to requests for comment through FCA’s press office.

An FCA spokesperson said no comment could be made on the case “as the individual’s employment tribunal proceedings are ongoing”.

An ICO spokesperson said: “Legal protections are in place to ensure that whistleblowers can freely report certain types of misconduct.

“Anyone who has concerns about the way their information has been handled following such a disclosure can raise their concerns with us.”

Ellesheva Kissin is a reporter at Banking risk and regulationa service from FT Specialist