UK watchdog tells banks to improve remote working safeguards

Britain told people to work from home from Thursday if possible as new cases of COVID-19 grow again. Megan Butler, executive director for wholesale supervision at the FCA, said firms have broadly managed conduct and other risks from remote working "pretty well so far".

Banks and investment firms have to come up with more "creative solutions" to avoid misconduct as staff work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, Britain's Financial Conduct Authority said on Thursday. Britain told people to work from home from Thursday if possible as new cases of COVID-19 grow again.

Megan Butler, executive director for wholesale supervision at the FCA, said firms have broadly managed conduct and other risks from remote working "pretty well so far". "These are all difficult questions that get harder over time as it looks like no one is going to be back in the office anytime soon," she told the FCA's annual meeting.

"Industry has coped pretty well so far and we are now going to be looking to them to find perhaps some more creative, resilient solutions to these issues than perhaps some of the ones that have worked so well so far."