Prescribed Persons (Reports on Disclosures of Information) Regulations 2017 – Annual Report 2024/25

(a)(i)

We received a total of 264 disclosures that have been subject to assessment against the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (‘PIDA’) and discrete statutory requirements of the Bank and the PRA, to assess whether they are protected disclosures.

(a)(ii)

We reasonably believed that 252 disclosures were protected disclosures within section 43B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and subject to the Bank’s and PRA’s role as Prescribed Persons. The remaining twelve disclosures were not protected disclosures:

• Three disclosures related to firms which are not regulated by the PRA or the Bank.
• Five disclosures related to firms which are regulated by the Bank/PRA, but the issues fell outside of the Bank’s or the PRA’s regulatory remit; and
• Three disclosures related to individuals who do not identify or meet the definition of a whistleblower.
• One disclosure lacked sufficient context.

(b)

Regardless of the statutory basis of any disclosures, the information provided through the whistleblowing channel can contain vital information to further supervisory assessments. We therefore provided supervisory colleagues with all disclosures (protected and non-protected) to either consider, or for information purposes.

(c)(i)

All protected disclosures were the subject of supervisory consideration, from which:

• 176 originated from the FCA; and
• 20 were provided to both the PRA and FCA by the whistleblower.
• 48 were provided to the PRA in the first instance and then disseminated to the FCA.
• 8 were provided to the PRA but were not disseminated further as the matters reported either did not relate to financial regulation, were unable to be progressed due to insufficient information or related solely to the PRA’s remit.

(c)(ii)

Of the 252 protected disclosures that were subject to supervisory consideration:

• 32 disclosures contributed to supervisory activity to manage potential harm;
• 87 disclosures provided intelligence, which was retained for future reference but not currently actionable; and
• 57 disclosures provided intelligence, of low value, which did not lead to supervisory activity.
• 76 disclosures continue to be subject to ongoing supervisory assessment.^{footnote [1]}

Anonymised examples of the action taken in response to protected disclosures are included at the end of this Report.

(d)

An explanation of the functions and objectives:

The Bank of England

The Bank of England’s mission is to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability. The Bank of England is a prescribed person for:

• the functioning of clearing houses (including central-counterparties);
• administrating and overseeing SONIA, including calculation and publication;
• payment systems and securities settlement systems;
• the treatment, holding, and issuing of banknotes by the Scottish and Northern Ireland banks authorised to issue banknotes (and their agents);
• the custody, distribution, and processing of Bank of England banknotes under the Bank of England’s Note Circulation Scheme; and
• the provision of a services relating to payment services.

Bank of England
Intelligence and Whistleblowing Team
Threadneedle Street,
London,
EC2R 8AH

Tel: 020 3461 8703

Email: whistleblowing@bankofengland.co.uk

The Prudential Regulation Authority

The PRA regulates and supervises around 1,300 banks, building societies, credit unions, insurers, and major investment firms.

The PRA has the general objective to promote the safety and soundness of the firms it regulates. It has a secondary objective to facilitate effective competition between firms and to facilitate the international competitiveness of the UK economy (in particular the financial services sector) and its growth in the medium to long term.

In relation to insurers, the PRA has an additional objective, to contribute to securing an appropriate degree of protection for insurance policyholders.

The PRA is a prescribed person for matters relating to the carrying on of deposit-taking business, insurance business, or investment business, and the safety and soundness of persons authorised for such purposes.

Bank of England
Intelligence and Whistleblowing Team
Threadneedle Street,
London,
EC2R 8AH

Tel: 020 3461 8703

Email: whistleblowing@bankofengland.co.uk

Example 1

A whistleblower raised concerns that a firm was failing to manage risk appropriately. We met with firm representatives to safely discuss concerns on its risk function. The whistleblowing disclosure informed our supervisory approach and helped us ensure the firm was able to meet regulatory requirements.

Example 2

A whistleblower reported that a firm had several governance failings following an organisational restructure. The concerns raised by the whistleblower formed key considerations for a PRA Skilled Person Review, allowing specific areas, namely the firm’s management, governance and culture to be probed in greater detail.

Example 3

A whistleblower raised key concerns regarding financial irregularities, risk exposure and the poor conduct of several senior managers. The whistleblower’s information provided valuable insight into potential regulatory failings which the PRA was able to use/evaluate and take suitable measures to ensure regulatory compliance.