Insurers and fund managers express doubts about a senior FCA official following last week's botched probe

Fund managers have begun questioning the future of the executive in charge of London's market disclosure regime following the insurance sector debacle which wiped billions of pounds off share prices last week. Senior City sources at asset management groups and insurance companies affected by the botched briefing announcement said they had lost confidence in Marc Teasdale, who has headed the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) for the last nine years. The UKLA, which is part of the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA's) markets division, is responsible for maintaining confidence in securities markets by prompting full and timely information disclosures by companies. Last Friday, the FCA triggered the biggest crisis in its year-long history when it briefed a national newspaper about a probe it was planning to launch into certain aspects of the closed-life insurance industry. The City regulator then failed to issue a statement to clarify the newspaper story until almost six hours after the London stock market had opened, during which time the share prices of companies such as Aviva, Legal & General and Resolution were hit hard by investors' interpretation of the potential impact on their businesses......Read more here