FCA appoints deputy chief executive to manage growing remit, support growth and drive reform

The new role has been created to reflect the FCA's expanding remit, with the integration of the Payment Systems Regulator, regulation of stablecoin and crypto firms as well as Buy Now Pay Later activities. As deputy chief executive, Sarah will also support the FCA's increasingly international focus, given its role supporting UK growth and competitiveness.  

Sarah joined the FCA in June 2021 to jointly lead the supervision, policy and competition division. Sarah has most recently been responsible for consumers and competition, having previously led the FCA's markets function.  

Sarah also has executive responsibility for the FCA's international work and personally spearheaded recent G20/Financial Stability Board work on leverage in non-bank financial institutions.  

Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, said:

'Since joining us, Sarah helped bring together our supervision, policy and competition functions and has led some of our most high-profile work, for example, the once-in-a-generation overhaul of the listing rules and landmark work on financial advice and guidance.

'Delivering our ambitious new strategy – to deepen trust, rebalance risk, support growth and improve lives – is a collective endeavour and relies on continued reform. Sarah's breadth of experience, in both public and private sectors, makes her ideally placed to help me drive this.'

Ashley Alder, chair of the FCA, said:

'The international environment is complex, our remit is growing and expectations of us continue to evolve. The board fully supports Sarah taking on the role of deputy chief executive to help Nikhil lead the FCA day-to-day and cultivate our key relationships. Sarah has proven her ability to drive reform and deliver bold proposals at pace.'

Sarah Pritchard, deputy chief executive of the FCA, said:

'The last 4 years has been marked by significant reform. I am looking forward to working even more closely with Nikhil, so there is no let up in the pace of change, and to ensure we have the right relationships, domestically and internationally, to deliver our ambitious strategy.'  

Sarah has already taken up the deputy chief executive role. There will be no immediate change to her areas of responsibility.

Notes to editors

• See Sarah's photo.  
• Sarah joined the FCA in June 2021. In addition to the responsibilities detailed above, Sarah is the executive director sponsor for the FCA's Edinburgh office. Since she joined, the number of FCA colleagues based in its Edinburgh office has nearly tripled.  
• Prior to joining the FCA, Sarah was the director of the National Economic Crime Centre (NECC), a multi-agency partnership housed in the National Crime Agency (NCA), created in late 2018 to deliver UK system leadership on economic crime. Before then, she was general counsel/legal director for the NCA as well as leading the NCA's transformational people programme.
• Her career has involved investigative, operational and legal roles in a range of government departments and in the private sector. Within the private sector, she led global financial crime compliance and reputational risk teams at HSBC and qualified as a commercial litigator with Dechert LLP.