Richard Lloyd Succeeds Charles Randell, Becomes Interim Chair of FCA

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Wednesday appointed Richard Lloyd as the financial market watchdog’s new Interim Chair. He took over the charges from Charles Randell, who stepped down from the apex position on Tuesday.

Lloyd’s temporary appointment did not come as a surprise as the regulator had already confirmed it in early February.

He will oversee the activities of the financial market regulator until a permanent replacement takes over the position. The regulator is already in the process of recruiting a permanent Chair.

An Experienced Board Member

Prior to his role as the Interim Chair, Lloyd joined the FCA Board in April 2019 in an independent capacity. He was added to the Board for two consecutive three-year tenures.

Apart from his FCA roles, Lloyd is a member of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and a Council member of the Advertising Standards Authority. Further, he was a founding trustee of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute.

His other industry roles include being an Executive Director at Which?, where he spent from 2011 until 2016, and Chief Executive of Consumers International. He even worked as a Special Advisor for the UK Prime Minister for two years.

Meanwhile, Randell, who took over as the Chair of the FCA and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) in April 2018, resigned last October. Moreover, the financial market regulator confirmed that he is not going to take on any other appointment with the agency after his separation.

While Lloyd took over as the FCA’s Interim Chair, the vacant apex position at PSR was filled by Aidene Walsh, again in an Interim capacity. Although, Walsh took over the role in April.

“The FCA Board is hugely grateful to Charles Randell for all that he has done over the last four years as chair,” Lloyd said in a statement earlier. “Under his leadership, wide-ranging improvements to the way the FCA does its job are already making a positive difference for the financial services industry and millions of people’s lives.”