The review will be led by Lea Paterson, a non-executive director of the FCA and former Bank of England official. The watchdog faced intense questioning over her appointment at its annual public meeting in October. Founder of the Transparency Taskforce Andy Agathangelou called for Mr Alder to resign during a heated exchange, which saw the board face intense scrutiny from whistleblowers and campaigners following news of the planned probe.

Mr Andriesz had highlighted alleged links between the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick. The Transparency Task Force confirmed that he died in September, aged 57.

The banker alleged wrongdoing at a Wall Street brokerage formerly run by Lutnick. The regulator has since come under fire over whether it took his allegations of retaliation by his former employer seriously enough.

A cross-party group of MPs warned that Mr Andriesz’s death raised “deeply troubling questions” and called for an external inquiry into the FCA’s handling of whistleblowers. The politicians said regulators should not be “marking their own homework” on the issue.

The FCA confirmed that Paterson will have full access to all relevant documentation and records held by the FCA that fall within the scope of the review. She will be supported by “external legal advisors” who are independent of the FCA and “may also consult other external independent experts as necessary”.

The regulator said it will provide the reviewer with “secretarial support” and that the review will “assess the FCA’s interactions with Mr Andriesz, identify any lessons learned and make recommendations”.

The review will cover the period from at least 2017 to 2026. The FCA also confirmed Paterson will “not assess the substance or merits of any allegations contained in Mr Andriesz’s protected disclosures”.

In a statement setting out the terms of reference, the FCA said the review will include an “assessment of the FCA’s communications with Mr Andriesz, as a vulnerable individual, including communications with the areas of the FCA referred to in section 2 (Approach).

“An assessment of whether the FCA met the standards required of it as a Prescribed Person (under the Employment Rights Act 1996) and its own policies and procedures when handling Mr Andriesz’s protected disclosures, including his concerns that he had experienced detriment; and any broader lessons learned from the engagements with Mr Andriesz that are applicable in future to: the FCA’s interactions with external whistleblowers and vulnerable individuals; and how the FCA might best support its employees in their interactions with external whistleblowers and vulnerable individuals.”

A report will be addressed to the FCA’s non-executive directors and published in spring 2027, with a progress update in January 2027.

Paterson will look at all communications between the FCA and Mr Andriesz over the period, including those with the FCA areas of authorisations; communications; enforcement and market oversight; and risk and compliance oversight.

She will consider all the FCA’s policies and procedures relating to the “receipt of external whistleblowing reports, SYSC 18 of the FCA Handbook concerning firms’ internal whistleblowing arrangements, and the FCA complaints scheme as they were in force at the relevant time and related to Mr Andriesz”.

The review will also examine any training and guidance the FCA gave its employees, during the relevant period, on handling communications with vulnerable external whistleblowers and Scheme complainants that would have applied to Mr Andriesz.

It will weigh “any relevant UK or overseas proceedings to which Mr Andriesz was a party, including any before the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner, the employment tribunal and the Financial Ombudsman Service”, as well as any “legal or other constraints on the FCA with respect to informing external whistleblowers of any regulatory action it may or may not take”.

It will also factor in “the restrictions on the disclosure of confidential information and personal data under applicable law in undertaking the review and preparing and publishing the report”.