Ashley Alder said the FCA would help “chart the U.K.’s post-Brexit
future as a global financial centre, which continues to support
innovation and competition."
Ashley Alder, the CEO of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures
Commission, will become the next chair of the United Kingdom’s Financial
Conduct Authority.
In a Friday announcement, the U.K. Treasury said
it had appointed Alder to chair the country’s financial watchdog
starting in January 2023. He will succeed interim FCA chair Richard
Lloyd, who took office following Charles Randell’s departure in May.
Alder
has led the Hong Kong securities regulator since 2011 and also chaired
the International Organization of Securities Commissions, or IOSCO. In a
March report from the IOSCO, Adler said decentralized finance was “a novel and fast-growing area of financial services” but posed potential risks as the industry grew.
In his acceptance to chair the FCA, Alder said the financial watchdog
would help “chart the U.K.’s post-Brexit future as a global financial
centre which continues to support innovation and competition through its
own world-leading regulatory standards.” The U.K. regulator monitors
roughly 51,000 financial services firms and financial markets across the
country.
Related: Ideas vs. practice: How are regulators working together on crypto?
Alder’s
appointment came amid the FCA announcing the hiring of 500 additional
staff members in 2022 as part of a three-year strategy, which includes
“proactively [shaping] the digitalization of financial services through
developing our regulatory approaches to digital markets.” Matthew Long
of the National Crime Agency will become director of the FCA’s payments and digital assets unit starting in October.
The
U.K. government experienced mass resignations in the last seven days
amid reports Prime Minister Boris Johnson promoted former deputy chief
whip Chris Pincher to a senior position while knowing about allegations
of groping. Johnson resigned on Thursday
following notices of departure from more than 50 members of parliament
including Chancellor of the Exchequer for the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak
and Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Glen.
Nadhim Zahaw has taken over for Sunak as chancellor of the Exchequer, while Reuters reported on Friday that MP Richard Fuller had been appointed the next U.K. economic secretary.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/hong-kong-securities-regulator-ceo-to-lead-uk-financial-watchdog
