Bankers have been warned that they must now record all communications while working from home, in a major U-turn by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
The financial watchdog made the announcement before the weekend, officially ending the leeway it had first introduced to banks and building societies last year when the first pandemic lockdown began.
During the initial lockdown in March, the FCA told bankers to continue to record calls to ensure maximum security in new working environments at home. However, they did note that there could be some scenarios where this was simply not possible.
Now, those guidelines have changed and bankers are being told they must comply, having had 10 months to organise operations.
“At the start of the pandemic, if your firm moved to an alternative site or a working from home arrangement, we asked you to consider the broader control environment in view of the new circumstances,” the Financial Conduct Authority said in guidance that was updated on Friday.
“Given the extensive duration of these arrangements, we now expect you to record all relevant communications (including voice calls) when working outside the office,” it added.
The UK began its first lockdown in March last year, and despite ongoing efforts to curb the virus, last week Britain began a third lockdown as cases of coronavirus surged and Prime Minister Boris Johnson instructed people to work from home if they can.
Remote working can however make it harder for a banks’ compliance officials to audit traders and check they are not breaking rules, such as using personal phones for work-related calls.
The authority began warning banks four months ago in October that they should apply the same standards of surveillance and conduct to all remote working staff or those who are still working from the office.
Julia Hoggart, the FCA's director of market oversight, said that while an array of scenarios emerged early in the pandemic where the typical expectations in terms of recording and surveillance were simply not possible, such firms should now have taken steps to overcome these challenges.
"Our expectation is that going forward, office and working from home arrangements should be equivalent - this is not a market for information that we wish to see be arbitraged," she said. "We expect firms to have updated their policies, refreshed their training and put in place rigorous oversight reflecting the new environment - particularly regarding the risk of use of privately owned devices."
