As shocking as it might be to think it, many in the TTF community are of the view that the toxic culture at the Post Office that has been so brilliantly exposed by the recent ITV docuseries “Alan Bates v the Post Office” has similarities with the culture in the Financial Conduct Authority, and therefore how the FCA operates. 

For the avoidance of any doubt we believe that the vast majority of employees at the FCA are  good, honest people doing an important job well. 

But we definitely have some concerns about some of the senior leadership team and the behaviours of the organisation they are responsible for.

We’re pleased to let you know that Kay Linnell (the forensic accountant who helped the Post Office scandal victims and was included in the ITV programme, acted by Isobel Middleton – the lady sat in this image) is the keynote speaker.

She was an important part of the Justice For Subpostmasters Alliance case against the Post Office’s Horizon computer system. 

Kay is a chartered accountant and certified fraud examiner. She has expertise in forensic accounting, arbitration, and mediation, with a rich background in share valuations, insurance claims, and fraud investigations – a very useful person for TTF and our members to know.

Kay is extremely well placed to talk about the Post Office, its culture and its egregious behaviour that has been in, and stayed in, the headlines for weeks. 

And others, individuals with intimate knowledge of the workings of the FCA, including those who have blown the whistle to the FCA and paid a big price for doing so, will be highlighting the similarities between the Post Office and the FCA.

Maybe you share their view that both the Post Office and the FCA have been guilty of:

• Refusing to properly investigate allegations of its own misconduct
• Failing to protect whistleblowers
• A complete failure of all aspects of governance, due diligence and audit
• A complete failure of the Non Executive Directors to provide sufficient scrutiny and challenge 
• Dishonesty to Parliament and the Courts
• Spin-doctoring i.e. issuing deliberately misleading statements to the media
• Being morally bankrupt
• Participation in what amounts to collusion, corruption and cover-up
• Malevolence towards those that don’t comply and try to ‘fight back’
• Thinking about their own reputations first and foremost
• Being willing to take actions and make decisions that cause extreme damage to people’s lives; including being in breach of the suicide act
• The destruction of life for some (through suicides) and the destruction of the quality of life for thousands of innocent people
• The UK Government being complicit in some of its egregious conduct, as has recently been reported by Andy Verity
• And what else?

And we should be mindful of what Lord Arbuthnot has said about the Post Office:

“This was a Government organisation being overseen by Government representatives and it’s the Government that has to take responsibility for everything that went wrong. 

It’s a distinctly corrupt, murky story that goes right into Government, and it’s deeply worrying.”

One wonders about the extent to which the same can be said about the FCA; let’s see