The Financial Conduct Authority has announced Richard Lloyd will serve as interim chairman of the regulator while a search for a permanent successor to Charles Randell is found.
Lloyd is currently senior independent director of the FCA Board, chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and vice-chairman of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute.
He has previously held executive positions at Which, Consumers International and Shelter.
He will take over from current chairman Randell who resigned from his position in October.
At the time, Randell asked the Chancellor to commence the process to appoint his successor at both the FCA and the Payment Systems Regulator.
Randell held the posts since April 2018, and led the regulator through the UK’s exit from the EU, the pandemic, as well as its transition to a new executive team under chief executive officer Nikhil Rathi.
Lloyd will act as interim chairman of the FCA from June 1 2022.
Lloyd said: “The FCA board is hugely grateful to Charles Randell for all that he has done over the last four years as [chairman]. Charles is an outstanding public servant who has worked tirelessly to support consumers and businesses through the most turbulent of times.
“Under his leadership, wide-ranging improvements to the way the FCA does its job are already making a positive difference for the financial services industry and millions of people’s lives.“
The regulator also announced that Aidene Walsh will act as interim chairwoman of the Payment Systems Regulator from April 1.
Walsh is currently a non-executive director of the PSR, and an executive director with Banking Competition Remedies, the organisation set up to implement the alternative remedies package of measures agreed between the UK government and the European Commission.
Prior to joining BCR, she was CEO of The Fairbanking Foundation after senior roles in global transaction banking.
She said: “The PSR board and executive team are extremely grateful to Charles for his leadership as chairman since 2018. He has taken the PSR on its development journey to a mature and robust regulator and has recently delivered its five-year strategy and demonstrated that it will intervene to ensure good outcomes for users of payment systems.
“I am delighted to be asked to be interim chairwoman building on the strong foundations Charles has set in what is a fast-evolving payments sector.”
HM Treasury appoints the chair of the FCA while the PSR position is an appointment of the FCA board, with the approval of HM Treasury.
Randell added: “I am very pleased that both Richard and Aidene have agreed to chair the FCA and PSR Boards on an interim basis while the search for my permanent successor concludes.
“I am confident that under their leadership both organisations will continue to deliver on their strategies to become more agile and assertive regulators.”
sonia.rach@ft.com
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