FSA appoints senior advisors on governance and authorisation
FSA/PN/162/2009
26 November 2009
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has announced the appointment of five new senior advisors who will assist the FSA in its work on governance issues. These advisors will provide input into developing the FSA’s regulatory framework for ensuring effective governance in financial institutions, and will also contribute to the panel interview process for individuals wishing to take up major board positions in the UK’s largest financial institutions.
The new advisors are: Sir Dominic Cadbury, Baroness Hogg, Lord Marshall, Sir Brian Pitman and Sir David Scholey.
As part of its new intensive approach to supervision the FSA has made clear that it is now seeking to judge competence as well as probity with regard to individuals holding significant influence functions (SIFs). In October the FSA wrote to firms to reinforce how its intensive regulatory approach applied to the FSA’s vetting of individuals applying for roles classed as SIFs. This included details about the SIF interview process conducted by a senior panel drawn from the FSA executive and its existing advisory group. These interviews are used to judge the competence and capability of those applying for influential positions within regulated firms.
In future, for key roles in the largest firms, the FSA panel will be joined by one of the new appointees, who will act in an advisory capacity. This is likely to apply to candidates for chair, chief executive, senior independent director and the chair of audit, remuneration and risk committees, particularly in the banking and insurance sector.
The new advisors, whose primary focus is on governance and competency, will work with the existing senior advisors who provide specialist input on specific technical areas.
Hector Sants, FSA chief executive said:
“These new advisors have extensive experience acting on the boards of major companies and in senior policy positions and will bring valuable insight to the work the FSA is pursuing on governance.
“In adding this board expertise to our SIF interview panel, we can continue to ensure those taking up top jobs are the right calibre to lead and challenge the management of the UK’s top firms.”
These appointments will take place with effect from January 2010. The new advisors will work with Graeme Ashley-Fenn, FSA director of permissions, decisions and reporting who has responsibility for the SIF approval regime
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- The new advisors will join the FSA SIF interview panels to offer guidance but executive decisions on approving SIF candidates remains with the FSA directorship.
- Sir Dominic Cadbury held the position of non-executive chairman of Misys from 2006 to 2009, and prior to that was chief executive and then chairman of Cadbury Schweppes.
- Sarah Hogg (Viscountess Hailsham, the Baroness Hogg) is non-executive chairman on 3i Group Plc, senior independent director of BG Group Plc, non-executive director of Cadbury Plc, chair of Frontier Economics Ltd and deputy chair of the Financial Reporting Council.
- Colin Marshall (Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge) is non-executive chairman of Nomura International Plc and chairman of Pirelli UK Ltd. He was Chief Executive of British Airways from 1983-1995 and Chairman from 1993 until he retired in 2004. .
- Sir Brian Pitman is senior independent director of Carphone Warehouse Group Plc and senior advisor at Morgan Stanley & Co Ltd. He became chief executive of Lloyds Bank in 1983 and appointed chairman of Lloyds TSB Group in 1997. He retired in 2001.
- Sir David Scholey is an advisor to UBS Investment Bank. He is former chairman and chief executive of SG Warburg and was a former member of the Court of the Bank of England and the Board of Banking Supervision.
- The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and fighting financial crime.