Welcome to the legacy website of the Financial Services Culture Board (FSCB); a membership body operating from April 2015 to June 2023, and that worked with financial services firms to help them understand and manage their workplace cultures. This site preserves for two years from 30 June 2023 the FSCB’s published output so that it remains available to member firms and all those interested in organisational culture.

In November 2013, in the wake of the 2008/09 financial crisis and the 2013 Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, the chairs of the UK’s seven largest banks and building societies asked Sir Richard Lambert to consult on developing a body to promote high standards of behaviour and competence in banking. Sir Richard published his review in May 2014, saying ‘that there is a strong case for a collective effort… and that the best way to deliver this is by setting up a new and independent body to drive the process forward’. Dame Colette Bowe was named in October of that year as the first Chair of the new body, appointed Alison Cottrell as CEO and brought together a Board made up of practitioners and non-practitioners (the latter, always in the majority).

The Banking Standards Board (BSB) was established in April 2015 and opened for membership in January 2016, funded by membership fees and open to any firm operating in the UK banking sector. It provided evidence-based challenge, support and scrutiny for firms committed to creating or maintaining good organisational cultures and to rebuilding the trustworthiness of the sector. One of its earliest initiatives was the development of an Assessment Framework and Employee Survey that allowed firms to gauge progress in managing culture by business area, demographic group, over time and relative to other firms. As its evidence base grew, the BSB expanded its capacity in data analytics and behavioural science and worked with a range of academics and other partners to help firms act on the information provided and share insights and learning. Dame Susan Rice succeeded Dame Colette as BSB Chair in January 2020.

Organisational culture matters in every sector, and the BSB’s approach and findings were of wider interest from the outset. While it was able to work with firms outside banking/ the UK as individual clients, this limited such firms’ ability to share in all the collective aspects of membership. In April 2021 the BSB was renamed the FSCB and its membership scope extended to include firms across UK financial services.

The material on this site includes both the aggregate results of the annual FSCB Employee Survey and articles, guidance and research on issues as varied as speaking out and listening, implementation of the UK’s Certification Regime, changing workplaces, professionalism, law and regulation, employee wellbeing, and decision making. Recordings from events and webinars can also be found on the site. Following the FSCB’s closure this site can, of course, function only as a library resource rather than as part of an ongoing conversation. While it remains available, however, we hope that you will find it useful.