Welby Tells Financial Watchdogs To Practise What They Preach

The Archbishop of Canterbury warned financial watchdogs to "practise what they preach" to avoid another crash, in a report out on Tuesday.

Justin Welby's comments were made after research from Cass Business School for New City Agenda found rules introduced after the 2008 collapse were being weakened. The report warned the UK was heading towards another crisis and slammed regulators for being more focused on box ticking that proper restrictions.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was a former oil executive before entering the clergy.Reuters

The report called for cultural changes after it said regulation was being "progressively watered down" as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) had been "blown off course".

Welby, a former oil executive and advisory board member to New City Agenda, said the report into cultural change "is an important piece of work which reminds us that restoring trust requires regulators to practise what they preach.

"The report sets out clearly the progress made by the FCA, PRA and Bank of England and where improvements are still needed."

The report's author Andre Spice told City AM he was concerned that regulators thought "holding banks to account can sometimes be politically dangerous or would lead them to make what some of them call a career-limiting decision".

New City Agenda non-executive director Lord Sharkey said: "The New City Agenda report serves as a warning against the culture of box-ticking which contributed to the financial crisis, allowed widespread misconduct to occur and let bank executives escape sanction."