The UK’s financial regulator is set to split its top enforcement role, hiring a senior cop who oversaw a crackdown against oligarchs to lead on moves to tackle financial crime across the City.
(Bloomberg) — The UK’s financial regulator is set to split its top enforcement role, hiring a senior cop who oversaw a crackdown against oligarchs to lead on moves to tackle financial crime across the City.
The Financial Conduct Authority named Steve Smart, the National Crime Agency’s director of intelligence, and Therese Chambers, the watchdog’s director of consumer investments, to jointly oversee enforcement. The pair are being brought in as the FCA speeds up decision-making in an attempt to cut down on lengthy investigations.
“We are committed to acting faster and more effectively, putting the power of technology, data and intelligence at the heart of our enforcement operations,” Nikhil Rathi, the FCA’s chief executive officer, said.
Smart most recently oversaw the NCA’s new unit targeting Kremlin-linked Russian oligarchs and their enablers in London, while Chambers, an FCA veteran, has led retail investigations since 2018. The pair will replace Mark Steward, who announced plans to step down in October after seven years in the role.
Top of the agenda will be the FCA’s high-profile investigation into former Barclays Plc chief Jes Staley, which began in late 2019. The watchdog is set to decide whether the executive mischaracterized his relationship with convicted pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Barclays’ board has so far stood by Staley even as the executive contests the FCA’s initial findings.
The speed of the FCA’s investigations has been criticized with most lasting more than two and a half years. The regulator has since moved some decisions away from its internal panel while focusing on its powers to withhold or suspend authorizations as a more effective way to clamp down on financial crime.
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