Moved by
Baroness Kramer
71: After Clause 11, insert the following new Clause—
“Whistleblowing
(1) The Secretary of State must by regulations made by statutory instrument establish an Office of the Whistleblower.
(2) The functions of the Office shall be the administration of arrangements to facilitate whistleblowing in respect of corrupt or suspected corrupt practices in systematically important financial institutions including in particular with regard to fraud, tax evasion, money laundering or miss-selling.
(3) The Office shall have powers—
(a) to give directions as to the records kept by each institution and to check compliance with its directions including by audit;
(b) to award financial compensation to any person voluntarily providing information to—
(i) the Financial Conduct Authority;
(ii) the Prudential Regulation Committee of the Bank of England;
(iii) the Serious Fraud Office; or
(iv) any other organisation designated by the Secretary of State;
leading to enforcement action against the institution sanctioned by way of penalty of not less than £500,000; and
(c) to set the level of compensation awarded in each case between 10% and 30% of the total collected.
(4) The Secretary of State must by regulations made by statutory instrument make provision with regard to retaliatory action against whistleblowers.
(5) For the purposes of this section a “systematically important financial institution is an institution” designated by the Bank of England in consultation with the Financial Stability Board and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.”