Sky News said the Financial Conduct Authority will be accused of a “dereliction of duty” after it leaked news of an inquiry into the exploitation of long term policyholders by life companies to The Daily Telegraph last March.
A report by the Treasury Select Committee is expected to single out FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones and chief executive, Martin Wheatley, for criticism.
In the Telegraph article, the FCA said it would look into customers deemed to be locked into “rip off” pensions and investments, and claims that insurers were using returns from closed funds to pay bills from other parts of their business.
The regulator did not issue a clarification until six hours after the article was published, by which time stocks in companies such as Aviva, Friends Life and Legal & General had dropped significantly.
The FCA’s handling of the enquiry was subsequently criticised by George Osborne, and in an inquiry led by Simon Davis, partner at Clifford Chance.
