Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee yesterday, Wheatley said “We don’t have a culture of shoot first, ask questions later.
Wheatley made the controversial comment in 2012 in a discussion on the FCA’s then-new powers, which included banning risky products.
“That phrase, and I regret using that phrase, was used in the context of responding to a question about how our new early-intervention powers are to be used,” he said.
He added that the phrase had been “taken out of context”, although he admitted that the regulator may have been too aggressive in its early days.
The Treasury Select Committee also attacked FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones for his leaking of new pension rules last year. It described the leak as “a colossal misjudgement”.
