FCA appoints six new directors

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed six new directors as it expands its headcount to meet a “growing” remit and to achieve its 2022-2025 strategy, which launched in April.

The appointments fill a mix of new and existing roles, drawing on the FCA’s internal talent and external expertise, and they add to the almost 500 new colleagues the FCA will have recruited between January and the end of July this year.

Roma Pearson has been appointed as the FCA’s director of Consumer Finance, effective July, and is responsible for the supervision and policy development in the consumer lending sector. Pearson has been at the FCA and its predecessors since 1996, most recently as a head of Department in the Risk and Compliance Oversight division.

Camille Blackburn will also in October to the newly created role of director of Wholesale Buy-Side. In her new role, she will be responsible for policy development and the supervision across asset management, alternative investments, custody banks and investment research.

Additionally, Matthew Long has been appointed as director of Payments and Digital Assets, a new role overseeing the e-money, payment and crypto-asset markets and leading related policy development, effective October.

Meanwhile, Anthony Monaghan has been promoted within the FCA to director of Retail and Regulatory Investigations, which he has been covering on an interim basis since April 2021. He will be responsible for the FCA’s regulatory investigations in sectors including banking, insurance, financial advice and personal pensions.

Karen Baxter will also join the FCA’s enforcement team as director of Strategy, Policy, International and Intelligence, effective September. She will lead the specialised functions that support the breadth of the FCA’s enforcement and market oversight activities, helping ensure it has the tools it needs to do its work effectively.

Simon Walls, who was appointed interim director in May, will continue in the role of director of Wholesale on a permanent basis, with a focus on the Wholesale Sell-Side.

Nikhil Rathi, FCA chief executive, said: “As our remit grows and to deliver on our ambitious strategy, we’re continuing to develop and bring in the skills and talent we need. My executive committee colleagues and I are delighted to announce the latest additions to our leadership team, who will each bring deep expertise and broad experience to the FCA.”