[2025] UKUT 00185 (TCC)

Mr Donaldson’s evidence was that he had understood from the PSM letter that the Bank:

“should not disclose to the public any issues that were the subject of ongoing dialogue with the PRA. This was because conversations with the PRA on such subjects are confidential and not disclosable to the market. The Bank took this seriously and the Board reiterated this to me, and in the response to the 2018 PSM Letter, confirmed that it would not make any future disclosures to the market on any such issues under discussion with the PRA. This was another reason why disclosure to the market of the RWA Issue in the Q3 Announcement was considered inappropriate as it would, inevitably, have been in breach of that undertaking of confidentiality to the PRA.”

Mr Arden’s evidence was that he had a similar understanding: when interviewed by the Authority before the hearing, he said that the Bank was engaged in “confidential work” and in “confidential dialogue” with the PRA about the change to the RWA, and “until that work was concluded, there was nothing to disclose”.