The Financial Conduct Authority was battling widespread staff disgruntlement at the tail end of 2021. A landmark consultation on pay with the regulator’s 4,000 employees went so badly that even top staff had concerns.

“Since the bonus announcements and pay proposals plunged the organisation into crisis earlier this year, I have had to examine my role as a leader as never before,” one director wrote to the board, in emails seen by Financial News. “The proposals seem directly to undermine our ability to deliver now, and into the future. I cannot reconcile them with the principles of fair treatment to which we hold firms.”