FCA bans former Co-op Bank Chair over drug abuse

Mr Flowers, a Methodist minister, was Chair of Co-op Bank between 15 April 2010 and 5 June 2013. After stepping down he was convicted for possession of illegal drugs.

The City watchdog today said it had found Flowers’ conduct demonstrated a “lack of fitness and propriety required to work in financial services”.

Through its investigation, the FCA, in liaison with the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), found that, while Chair, Flowers had:

· used his work mobile telephone to make a number of inappropriate telephone calls to a premium rate chat line in breach of Co-op Group and Co-op Bank policies; and

· used his work email account to send and receive sexually explicit and otherwise inappropriate messages, and to discuss illegal drugs, in breach of Co-op Group and Co-op Bank policies despite having been previously warned about his earlier misconduct.

The FCA said Flowers had “also demonstrated an unwillingness to comply not only with the FCA’s requirements and standards but also with other legal, regulatory and professional requirements”.

The regulator said Flower’s disregard for the standards he is expected to meet “demonstrates a lack of integrity and that any future involvement by Mr Flowers in the financial services industry risks undermining consumer and market confidence”.

Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “The role of Chair occupies a unique place of trust and influence. The Chair is pivotal in setting expectations of a company’s culture, values and behaviours.

“Mr Flowers failed in his duty to lead by example and to meet the high standards of integrity and probity demanded by the role. These high standards are what the financial services industry and the wider community rightly expect of its senior individuals. Where a Chair, or other senior individual, fails to discharge these standards the FCA will hold them to account.”