FCA appoints deputy chief to steer growth mission
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made Sarah Pritchard its deputy chief executive, a new role the watchdog has forged to reflect its growing remit and bolster its efforts to support the government’s growth mandate.
The City’s main watchdog confirmed Pritchard’s appointment in an announcement on Tuesday, with the FCA’s integration with the Payments Systems Regulator, the regulation of stablecoin and cryptocurrency firms and the fast-growing buy now pay later sector all falling under her purview.
The promotion is yet another notch on the belt for the former National Crime Agency director, who has rapidly climbed up the FCA ranks since joining in 2021.
She arrived at the watchdog to establish its fledgling supervision, policy and competition division.
Two years later she was also put in charge of the FCA’s international brief – spearheading its work with G20 financial regulators on leverage in so-called non-banks – before being named the body’s director of consumer and competitions in November last year.
Commenting on her appointment, Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, singled out the role Pritchard played delivering the FCA’s “once-in-a-generation” overhaul of the listing rules, saying she had been responsible for some of his organisation’s “most high-profile work”.
“Delivering our ambitious new strategy – to deepen trust, rebalance risk, support growth and improve lives – is a collective endeavour and relies on continued reform,” he said. “Sarah’s breadth of experience, in both public and private sectors, makes her ideally placed to help me drive this.”
Prichard’s appointment comes during a period of significant upheaval. Alongside building out a new ‘outcomes-based’ form of regulation for technology and AI in finance, it is currently managing its integration with the PSR, sector-wide sagas like the motor finance scandal, and how best to respond to fresh pressure from the Treasury to help deliver economic growth.
Prichard said: “The last four years has been marked by significant reform. I am looking forward to working even more closely with Nikhil so there is no let up in the pace of change, and to ensure we have the right relationships, domestically and internationally, to deliver our ambitious strategy.”
“Sarah Pritchard’s appointment doubles the FCA’s executive leadership,” said Simon Morris, a financial services Partner with law firm CMS. “This reflects both the importance the FCA attaches to implementing the government’s Regulation for Growth initiative and also the unremitting vigilance that the FCA must exercise over its ceaselessly expanding remit.”