Charles Randell to step down as FCA Chair

Charles Randell has asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to commence the process to appoint his successor as Chair of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR). Mr Randell plans to step down in Spring 2022.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, commented:

‘I want to thank Charles Randell for his work as Chairman of both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator during this important period.

‘Both organisations undertake a vital role in ensuring that the UK financial markets work well, protecting the interests of consumers, promoting effective competition, and enhancing the integrity of the UK financial system. Charles has led both Boards during the UK’s transition to our new position outside the EU, through the vital economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting the important transition following Nikhil Rathi’s arrival as new CEO of the FCA.’

Charles Randell commented:

‘As the FCA prepares to implement its new wholesale, retail and data strategies under an established new executive, now is the right time for a new Chair to carry on the close and continuous oversight of our transformation.

‘During the pandemic, the FCA stood up for consumers and businesses, while the markets we oversee proved resilient, laying the foundations for record capital raising to support the recovery.

‘Being Chair of the FCA and PSR has been a great privilege.’

Charles Randell was a partner at law firm Slaughter and May from 1989 to 2013. He specialised in corporate finance law, and worked on financial stability and bank restructuring assignments, in particular during the global financial crisis. He was a member of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Committee from April 2013 to March 2018 and a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy between 2016 and 2018.