Your Money or Your Life: When the Watchdog Gets Muzzled

For every good conscience forced to bite its tongue inside the belly of the beast.

Imagine turning up to work every day at the very organisation meant to protect consumers—only to find that your duty of care has been traded for a duty to growth.

That’s what it’s like right now at the Financial Conduct Authority.

This isn’t just uncomfortable or uncertain. It’s soul-crushing. A reality where doing the right thing can cost you your job, your mental health, your purpose.

Because when a regulator shifts its worldview from protecting people to fuelling politics and finance, it drops—fast—down the spectrum of consciousness. From service to self-interest. From guardianship to gaslighting.

And who pays the price?
The frontline staff.
The ones who still care.

The Silence Behind the Smiles

They’re told to be “predictable, proportionate and purposeful.”
They’re promised they won’t swing too far from their core mission.
They’re reassured that protecting vulnerable consumers still matters.

But behind closed doors?

They’re criticised for favouring consumers.
Disciplined for challenging the growth agenda.
Downgraded in performance reviews.
Punished in pay awards.
Bullied by senior managers acting more like political enforcers than public servants.

This isn’t regulation. It’s capture in a suit and tie.

When the Regulator Becomes the Risk

The FCA now wants to loosen mortgage stress tests.
Consider scrapping contactless limits.
Abandon plans to name and shame abusive firms.

They say it’s to “boost productivity.”
But we’ve seen this movie before—2008, anyone?

Once again, we are told to believe that growth and protection go hand in hand. That watchdogs can wag their tails while keeping their teeth sharp.

But make no mistake: when the goal is growth at any cost, the cost is us.

And when the protectors are disempowered, the predators thrive.

Who Will Protect Us Now?

If the FCA can no longer be trusted to stand guard, who steps into the breach?

We do.

The volunteers. The citizen investigators. The non-conflicted financial planners. The financial life coaches who sit beside clients—not across the table trying to sell them something.

Those who remember what integrity looks like.
Those who refuse to compromise conscience for a payslip.
Those who choose justice over job security.

And maybe, just maybe, the good ones still trapped inside that system—who will find the courage to walk away and join the fight from the outside.

To the FCA Staff of Conscience

If this message finds you weary, know this:

You are not the problem.
You are not alone.
And you still have power.

There’s a movement growing. One that doesn’t need permission to protect. One that redefines regulation—not as red tape, but as radical care.

You don’t have to stay in a captured institution to make a difference.
You can step out—and step up.
We’re right here, ready to stand beside you.

Now is the Time

Now is the time to unmask the quiet coercion within the corridors of power.
Now is the time to expose the new highway robbers, wearing regulation as camouflage.
Now is the time to rebuild the profession—from the ground up—with people, not profits, at the heart.

Because if the watchdog won’t bark, we will.

Your Money or Your Life.
No more choosing.
It’s time for both.