1The Appointment of Charles Randell
Background on Charles Randell
5.Mr Randell has been an independent member of the Prudential Regulation Committee (PRC) of the Bank of England since 2013. Mr Randell has also served as a non-executive director and the Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since 2016. On appointment, Mr Randell has stated he will step down from the PRC on 31 March 2018. Mr Randell also intends to step down from his position at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy once the Department’s 2017–18 financial statements have been finalised.
6.From 2014 to 2016, Mr Randell was a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for the Department for Energy and Climate Change. From 2014 to 2017, Mr Randell also undertook some consulting work related to legal risk management outside the financial services sector.
7.From 1980 to 2013, Mr Randell worked at Slaughter and May, specialising in corporate finance, with a particular focus on work involving the public sector, principally in the financial services and energy sectors. Mr Randell became a partner at Slaughter and May in 1989.
8.Mr Randell obtained an MA in Jurisprudence from Trinity College, Oxford University in 1979. Mr Randell then went on to complete his Solicitors’ Final Examination at the College of Law in 1980.
Oral evidence
9.In oral evidence, the Committee questioned Mr Randell about the work of the FCA and the PSR. Topics covered during the session included:
- the relationship between the FCA and the Treasury Committee;
- his membership of Ingenious Film Partners 2 LLP;
- the impact of Section 348 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 on the FCA’s work;
- the Maxwellisation process;
- consumers and financial markets;
- the promptness of FCA action in response to consumer detriment;
- the implications of Brexit for the FCA’s work and resources;
- the ‘expectations gap’ between the FCA and wholesale markets;
- the balance of supervision between wholesale and retail markets;
- the Chancellor’s recommendations to the FCA on competitiveness;
- the future of financial services regulation after Brexit;
- the FCA’s regulatory toolkit;
- the relevance of his previous role as Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy;
- his experience and understanding of consumer issues;
- the high-cost short-term credit market;
- the FCA’s review of retail banking business models;
- the PSR’s response to authorised push payment fraud;
- the future of the ATM network and the PSR’s role in promoting the interests of consumers;
- how he intends to engage with the public;
- how he will assess the effectiveness of the FCA’s Board; and
- staff engagement in the FCA and PSR.
Conclusion
10.The Committee is satisfied that Mr Charles Randell has the professional competence and personal independence to be the Chair of the FCA and the PSR. We wish him every success in his roles.
21 February 2018