Britain’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has recruited nearly 500 more staff this year as part of its new three-year strategy. Among the new hires are six directors, whose appointments were announced on July 5. Two of them come from police areas.
The Director of Payments and Digital Assets is a newly created position that will oversee the e-money, payments and crypto-asset markets, as well as related policy development. Matthew Long has been appointed to this position from the National Crime Agency, where he is now Director of the National Economic Crime Command. Long has also headed the UK’s Financial Intelligence Unit. He began his career as a detective with the Kent Police and has a PhD in risk management. Long will begin his new role in October.
In September, Karen Baxter will support the FCA’s market oversight and law enforcement activities when she joins as director of strategy, policy, international and intelligence. She was Commander and National Coordinator for Economic Crime in the City of London Police. She is also a board member of the Northern Ireland Office of Communications.
Two interim directors will receive permanent appointments, and new directors of consumer finance and bulk purchasing have also been appointed.
The agency’s new strategy seeks to be more innovative, assertive and adaptable, seeking:
“Proactively shape the digitization of financial services by developing our regulatory approaches to digital markets.”
Regarding digital markets, the strategy addresses the competition between the main digital companies and the risks and benefits that big technologies will bring to the sector. He will examine the role of artificial intelligence in finance and lead research “informed by behavioral economics to probe digital consumer journeys.”
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