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Carney Says Time to Move Past Bank Fines to Better Behavior

Carney Says Time to Move Past Bank Fines to Better Behavior

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said plans for improving the behavior of bankers and others in the U.K. finance industry are slowly making a difference.

In a speech opening the BOE’s Markets Forum in London, he said measures are now deployed to prevent the “bad apples” from moving from firm to firm without proper checks.

“To address the ‘rolling bad apples’ problem, mechanisms are now in place here to ensure that when individuals move on their history will be known to those who consider hiring them. Firms will be required to share information on breaches of individual conduct rules, their fitness and propriety assessments and outcomes around subsequent disciplinary proceedings.”

Still, he said the measures are “all very constructive but they are not yet sufficient.” He highlighted the Senior Managers’ Regime as a key step to improving behavior, by strengthening individual accountability and collective responsibility.

“We must move from an excessive reliance on punitive ex post fines of firms to greater emphasis on more compelling ex ante incentives for individuals, and ultimately a more solid grounding in improved firm culture,” Carney said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fergal O'Brien in Zurich at fobrien@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Andrew Atkinson

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