Six months after UK whistleblowing rules were strengthened as part of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime their first high-profile test has emerged.

UK and US regulators have now started their investigation into Barclays. This followed the bank’s decision to publicly warn its chief executive Jes Staley for twice asking the security team to identify a third party whistleblower making allegations about the recruitment of an ex colleague of his, having been told that the bank was required to preserve whistleblower anonymity.