Appointment of Andrew Bailey as Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Conduct Authority Contents

2The appointment of Andrew Bailey

Background on Andrew Bailey

5.Andrew Bailey assumed the role of Chief Executive of the FCA on 1 July 2016. As Chief Executive, he is also a member of the Prudential Regulation Authority Board, the Financial Policy Committee, and the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority.

6.From April 2013 until July 2016, Dr Bailey was the first Chief Executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation at the Bank of England. Earlier, he joined the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in April 2011 as Deputy Head of the Prudential Business Unit and Director of UK Banks and Building Societies, becoming Managing Director of the Prudential Business Unit, with responsibility for the prudential supervision of banks, investment banks and insurance companies. He was appointed as a voting member of the interim Financial Policy Committee at its June 2012 meeting.

7. Previously, Dr Bailey worked at the Bank in a number of areas, including: Executive Director for Banking Services and Chief Cashier; Head of the Bank’s Special Resolution Unit (SRU); Governor’s Private Secretary; and Head of the International Economic Analysis Division in Monetary Analysis. He studied at Queen’s College, Cambridge, where he obtained a BA First Class Honours in History and a PhD in Economic History.2

Our evidence

8.In oral evidence, we questioned Andrew Bailey about the operations of the FCA and his plans for his tenure as Chief Executive. Topics covered during the session included:

Priorities for access to the Single Market after Brexit, and the implications for financial services of losing access;
The trade-off between retaining equivalence with the Single Market and the UK’s ability to influence financial regulation;
The importance of free movement of labour for FCA staffing and the UK’s status as a global financial centre;
Possible opportunities arising from a looser relationship between the UK and EU;
Dr Bailey’s assessment of the past failures of the FCA and the lessons learned;
The challenges the FCA faces in interpreting its statutory objectives and judging how and where to apply its supervision and enforcement tools;
The circumstances surrounding Dr Bailey’s appointment to the role of Chief Executive despite not applying;
His role in the government’s decision to replace the ‘presumption of responsibility’ in the Senior Managers Regime with a ‘duty of responsibility’;
His experience from leading the PRA, being on the FCA board and his earlier role at the FSA;
The FCA’s approach to retail conduct regulation;
How far the FCA should be involved in adjudication processes;
The time and resources the FCA is allocating to the Brexit negotiations and transition;
The major regulatory issues facing the FCA over his tenure as Chief Executive, notably pensions reform;
The measures the FCA is taking to address risks in the commercial property fund market;
The risks relating to peer-to-peer lending platforms;
The Supreme Court’s verdict on Lloyds Enhanced Capital Notes;
The relationship between conduct risk and prudential risk;
The FCA’s approach to enforcement decision-making;
The adequacy of FCA resources and the challenge posed by high staff turnover;
Unarranged overdraft charges;
The state of morale among staff at the FCA; and
Managing public expectations of the FCA.

Conclusion

9.We are satisfied that Andrew Bailey has the professional competence and personal independence to carry out his role as Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We wish him every success in his role.

2 This biography is adapted from one published on the Bank of England website, obtained 19 July 2016

< Back

Next >

21 July 2016