The concerns reached the Public Service Commission and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister on Friday, July 24. <\/p>\n
By Wednesday, July 29, FMA chief executive Samantha Barrass went on leave<\/a> and board member Alastair Hercus was made interim chief executive.<\/p>\n For some time, rumours have circulated that the FMA\u2019s workplace culture has been poor, if not toxic.<\/p>\n Various sources have spoken to the Herald about bullying behaviour involving staff at the most senior levels. The accounts align with those detailed in a Stuff article published last Wednesday.<\/p>\n The FMA is understood to have relied heavily on keeping disgruntled staff quiet by getting them to sign non-disclosure agreements.<\/p>\n The Herald has asked MBIE whether those who had signed agreements would be able to break the terms and conditions of these to contribute to the investigation.<\/p>\n Conduct regulator accused of poor conduct<\/p>\n Ironically, the FMA is responsible for regulating the conduct of financial institutions. <\/p>\n In 2018 and 2019 it did a high-profile conduct and culture review of New Zealand banks and life insurers with the Reserve Bank. <\/p>\n Last year, the Reserve Bank had a tough year, which resulted in its governor and board chairman resigning. <\/p>\n As for the FMA, issues bubbled to the surface in December, when its chairman, Craig Stobo, temporarily stepped down, pending the outcome of a KC\u2019s review into his conduct.<\/p>\n The review was initiated after three board members complained about Stobo to the minister.<\/p>\n Stobo resigned in May, after Wendy Aldred, KC, concluded he voiced too many political opinions<\/a> for someone in an apolitical public sector role.<\/p>\n Aldred\u2019s report showed Barrass and the FMA\u2019s general counsel and executive director for evaluation and oversight, Liam Mason, raised concerns about Stobo meeting with various organisations in Estonia, which is known for being very digitally advanced, with a former FMA employee, Kyla Bottriell.<\/p>\n Aldred conceded there were \u201cshortcomings\u201d in Stobo\u2019s communications with the FMA about the self-funded trip, but clarified there was no evidence of Stobo and Bottriell being in an inappropriate relationship, despite such rumours circulating.<\/p>\n After Aldred released her report, Bottriell said: \u201cThe report corrects the public record, but it does not repair the harm, or answer wider questions about how a conduct regulator allowed misinformation to escalate, causing lasting damage to my reputation.<\/p>\n \u201cI have raised legitimate concerns through proper channels about the FMA\u2019s internal culture, rumour-spreading, lack of accountability and leaking of internal matters. Those concerns pre-date this investigation and remain unaddressed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FMA holds market participants to standards of fairness, transparency and good conduct. It should apply the same standards internally.\u201d<\/p>\n