What is more Flowers, who is nicknamed the Crystal Methodist by the tabloids seeing as he was a Methodist minister, was convicted for possession of drugs, while he also used his work telephone to make inappropriate calls to a premium rate chat line.
Former Co-operative Bank chairman Paul Flowers has been banned from working in the financial services industry after he was found to have sent and received sexually explicit material and discussed illegal drugs by email.
What is more Flowers, who is nicknamed the Crystal Methodist in the tabloids seeing as he was a Methodist minister, was convicted for possession of drugs, while he also used his work telephone to make inappropriate calls to a premium rate chat line.
Flowers was chair of Co-op Bank between 15 April 2010 and 5 June 2013.
Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “The role of chair occupies a unique place of trust and influence. The chair is pivotal in setting expectations of a company’s culture, values and behaviours.
“Mr Flowers failed in his duty to lead by example and to meet the high standards of integrity and probity demanded by the role.
“These high standards are what the financial services industry and the wider community rightly expect of its senior individuals.
“Where a chair, or other senior individual, fails to discharge these standards the FCA will hold them to account.”
The FCA said it felt any future involvement in the financial services industry from Flowers would undermine consumer and market confidence.
