The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK regulator, has written to the chief executives of insurers demanding they step up efforts to stamp out misconduct by staff, following a spate of well-publicised instances of sexual harassment in the Lloyd’s market.

The letter, penned by Jonathan Davidson, executive director of supervision, retail and authorisations, said that “following recent, publicised incidents of non-financial misconduct in the wholesale general insurance sector, I am writing to set out our clear expectation that you should be proactive in tackling such issues”.