The Financial Conduct Authority hopes to improve accountability in the banking industry after the financial crisis

Senior bankers will be held accountable for the wrongdoing of people in their teams from now on under tough new rules. The Senior Managers Regime will hold individuals, not companies, to account and means they can be punished for their actions. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) will have the power to impose prison sentences of up to seven years and unlimited fines. The new system means the most senior individuals in firms, who hold key positions and oversee whole departments, must take reasonable steps to "to prevent a regulatory breach from occurring". However, the new rules have been watered down: the presumption of responsibility, which placed the burden of proof on mangers to show they had acted to prevent wrongdoing, has been removed. Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the PRA and deputy governor of prudential regulation at the Bank of England, said: "At the heart of the new accountability regime, is one very simple principle - you can delegate tasks but you cannot delegate responsibility......Read more here