The report, which details the experiences of 175 individuals who have engaged with the watchdog, said: “The FCA is seen as incompetent at best, dishonest at worst. Its actions are slow and inadequate, its leaders opaque and unaccountable.”

The 175 individuals involved in the report included stakeholders best placed to form an impartial assessment of how the regulator is perceived by consumers, FCA employees (past and present), leaders of other relevant statutory bodies, victims of alleged pension and investment scams, mortgage prisoners, and whistleblowers, among others.

The report stated there was compelling consensus among respondents that the regulator was widely seen as incompetent and has displayed an “alarming” treatment of whistleblowers.

 “In recent years, a series of scandals have emerged in which financial services firms have stood accused of mistreating consumers and small businesses,” said Bob Blackman CBE MP, co-chairman at the APPG.

He continued: “The UK’s principal financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, has been blamed for doing too little too late, or nothing, to prevent and subsequently remediate and punish alleged wrongdoing.”

One scandal which served as a catalyst for the report surrounded the Connaught Income Series 1 Fund, the main funder for the collapsed bridging lender, Tiuta.

Tiuta went into administration in 2012, owing around £109.7m to investors after it used fund money to refinance high-risk short-term loans — at that time, Connaught was its main funder and was operated by Capita until 2009, after which it was taken over by Blue Gate.

The Connaught fund was suspended in 2012 after a shortfall was discovered, with losses widespread.

One of those who gave testimony in the report was George Patellis, who served as the Tiuta’s CEO from February 2010 until early 2011.

In January 2011, Patellis described becoming aware of the shortfall in the cash position of the company of approximately £20m, the overwhelming majority being money owed to the Connaught fund.

George claimed that, after going to the FSA (the predecessor to the FCA) to notify them of his serious concerns about the company’s financial health, including documentation and director admissions, the FSA initially refused to take the documents, instead telling him to contact his wife and his lawyer.

Two days later, George claimed the FSA asked for the documents and, once handed over, he said that apart from a question on document retention, he did not hear again from them until 2016, after he had filed a complaint against the FCA.

“In December 2015, I filed a complaint against the FCA for their treatment of me. Specifically, they began to publicly state I could have done more and they determined I was not a whistleblower,” said George’s testimony.

According to George’s testimony in the report, the regulator had “outed” him to the public as a whistleblower and ruined his career.

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“The FCA’s actions have caused irreparable damage to my reputation, my financial situation, my family, and my ability to secure a job at the level I enjoyed before I blew the whistle,” said George.

“I received multiple death threats. The impact of the FCA’s actions flowed throughout my entire family. My children were harassed on social media, and someone even phoned my daughter on her mobile while she was at school, striking fear in her and my wife,” he continued.

Another individual who had complained to the FCA about their handling of the Connaught Income Fund alleged they had had their complaint rejected upon “spurious technical grounds”.

The report also found failings of the regulator when it came to its handling of victims of bank misconduct towards SMEs: “Some (especially SME stakeholders who have been victims of alleged misconduct by banks) claim that the regulator is captured, meaning culturally and economically aligned with banks and other large authorised firms and hence disinclined to act against their interests.”

According to the findings, of the 20 responses from victims of bank misconduct towards SMEs who reported to the FCA, their total ‘losses’ came to £547.6m.

When asked how helpful the FCA had been, all but one respondent said that they were not helpful. Four used the word ‘obstructive’ to describe the regulator.

One employee at the FCA, using only the pseudonym ‘Lesley’, said that the watchdog had developed a “toxic culture” and “spends huge resources, time, and effort on self-protection, of itself, at the expense of supporting consumers”.

The respondent continued: “Giving it more powers would even [sic: possibly] make things worse as it would not know how to use such powers.”

The APPG’s principal findings found that the regulator too often fails to perform its functions to a reasonable standard.

The FCA also had its integrity called into question, with a “significant number” of respondents believing it sometimes acted in bad faith.

The report claimed that testimony from those who have blown the whistle about alleged industry wrongdoing painted a consistent picture of an organisation that failed properly to investigate and act on intelligence provided.

The report also said the organisation had a “defective organisational culture, from the top” which is said to have only got worse.

Across all stakeholder groups, the majority claimed that the FCA’s past ‘Transformation Programme’ had been ineffective.

Bob Blackman said: “Sad to say, the testimony received suggests that there are very significant shortcomings to the FCA.

“It comes across as an opaque and unaccountable organisation, slow to act, and even slower to admit it has got things wrong and to change.”

An FCA spokesperson said: “We sympathise with those who have lost out as a result of wrongdoing in financial services, however we strongly reject the characterisation of the organisation.

“We have learned from historic issues and transformed as an organisation so we can deliver for consumers, the market, and the wider economy."

In the last financial year, the FCA has charged 21 individuals with financial crime offences; the highest number of charges it has achieved in a single year.