The FCA has defended its plans to delete emails after one year and denies it is trying to hide evidence and avoid scrutiny.

The FCA recently announced plans to delete emails older than one year after 1 April but the move was met with criticism from several quarters.

In a blog issued today, Ian Phoenix, FCA director, intelligence and digital, says he wants to put the record straight and explain the change.

He says important emails will still be stored securely after a year if it is still important to keep them and the policy will be kept under review. Regulatory records will be kept for 25 years.

He said: “First, what we're not doing. We're not deleting evidence. We’re not hiding information. We’re not reducing transparency. There is no change to our policy of what constitutes a record and how long it should be saved for.  

“What we are doing is modernising how we manage our records to make us a more efficient and effective regulator. Many of our records are already stored in a secure, shared repository. We want to make sure the same goes for all emails which may be records, for example, those which explain how a particular decision was reached. These need to be saved centrally so they can be accessed if we need to find the information in response to a request.  

“That's why any emails received after 1 April 2025 will be deleted from inboxes after a year. This gives staff plenty of time to assess whether the contents of an email are a record and – if they are – save them to the central shared drive.” 

He added that the changes will help the FCA comply with its obligations under GDPR and the Data Protection Act, so that the body does not retain information for too long. He also says it will help the FCA improve how it uses data so that it can "work smarter."  

The FCA currently has over 70 million emails stored in FCA inboxes and much of the information is of low value, he said.

“I’m confident in our new approach because I’ve seen the rigorous work and testing behind it. More than that, I know from experience that when we have the right tools in place, we can focus on what really matters: building a more responsive, agile and data-driven FCA, which delivers for the good of consumers and the economy,” he added.

Essential operational processes which run through shared mailboxes will remain out of scope of the new policy, he said. And if a certain case requires it, select staff will also have access to deleted emails for an extended period.  

He said that criticism the FCA was applying different standards to itself than it does to regulated firms was wrong.

He said: “Critics have suggested we’re holding ourselves to a different standard than the firms we regulate. This isn't the case. We expect firms to take their record keeping obligations seriously and, as the regulator, we do too.

“Regulatory records will still be kept for 25 years. Of course, change can be challenging, so we're putting in a range of support for staff, from detailed guidance to practical workshops. We're committed to getting this right, so we will be closely reviewing how it's working, adapting our approach and supporting staff as needed.”

He explained that moving to a new system of storage would allow emails and data to be better managed, searched and retrieved faster. Instead of spending hours digging through personal inboxes, staff will be able to search by keyword in a central digital archive, he said.