The Treasury select committee has approved the Financial Conduct Authority’s appointment of Ashely Alder as its incoming chair, despite admitting “his apparent inexperience of consumer regulation and UK financial services”.
The committee held a pre-appointment hearing to scrutinise Alder’s appointment yesterday (December 14).
MP Andrea Leadsom accused Alder, who has spent the past 30 years working in Hong Kong, of having a “slim” understanding of the UK scrutiny system and said he was “unlikely” to do a good job.
Today (December 15), the Treasury Committee published its report on Alder’s appointment.
The approval means Alder will be FCA chair for at least the next five years.
In the report, the committee said: "His apparent inexperience of consumer regulation and UK financial services suggests that it will be important that his knowledge of these areas be developed quickly so that he can become fully effective in his new role.
“He will want to take some time to familiarise himself with legacy issues from the global financial crisis.”
It added that because Alder is moving from a jurisdiction of extensive state control, he will also need to demonstrate independence in his new role and increase his knowledge of the way in which parliament scrutinises the FCA.
Alder has been chief executive officer of Hong Kong’s regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, since 2011.
He is due to exit the top role at the end of this month and begin as FCA chair on February 20, 2023.
Before SFC, Alder was head of Asia at law firm Herbert Smith’s Hong Kong office.
He intends to move permanently to the UK in the latter half of January.
He does not intend to take on any other commitments, saying in the pre-appointment hearing yesterday that despite being advertised as a part-time job, it will require “more commitment than that”.
Alder expects the UK’s cost of living crisis to impact the FCA’s focus considerably next year, if not for years to come.
‘Unlikely to do a good job’
Among the MPs to question Alder was Northamptonshire MP Andrea Leadsom.
She said it seemed to her that somebody who spent their entire career in Hong Kong is “very unlikely” to have the corporate memory or background or understanding of UK markets “to be able to do a good job”.
The MP pressed Alder on his understanding of the role of the Treasury committee, saying his understanding was “not exactly” right.
Alder himself accepted he probably didn’t have the same connections with institutions as someone who has only worked in the UK.
But he also pointed out that he was a UK citizen, and that one of his motivations to do the job was to contribute to an organisation of ‘extreme importance’.
The Treasury Committee did acknowledge Alder’s “extensive” markets and international financial services experience.
