MPs will question the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over its handling of the numerous sexual misconduct allegations levelled at hedge fund manager Crispin Odey.
The line of questioning will come from the Treasury Select Committee, before which the FCA is due to appear next month.
Labour’s Angela Eagle, one of the 11 committee members, told the Financial Times: “I think that as a minimum the FCA needs to be transparent and open about what they did.”
Eagle said the current protections for abuse against women in the financial services sector were “totally inadequate”.
“I will certainly wish to question the FCA about this when they appear before us,” she added.
The Treasury Select Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to hold both government and public financial bodies to account, including the FCA and the Bank of England.
Eagle’s comments came after the FT released a report on 8 June detailing allegations of sexual assault or harassment made by 13 women against Odey over a period of 25 years. Odey denies the allegations.
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The FT‘s report revealed that in early 2021, Odey Asset Management gave the FCA an internal report about Odey’s inappropriate behaviour towards female staff.
The FCA proceeded to open an investigation into potential “non-financial misconduct” at the firm, according to the FT, before focusing on corporate governance issues after Odey fired his executive committee in 2021.
