FCA under fire from MPs for 'extraordinary' chief exec hiring process

Appointed Andrew Bailey earlier this year

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been accused of conducting an ‘extraordinary' hiring process of its new chief executive, veering close to breaking employment discrimination laws, by an MP.

In a grilling with the Treasury select committee on 26 April, FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones (pictured) faced questions by Labour MP John Mann about the process through which Andrew Bailey was appointed to head the FCA following Martin Wheatley's departure. Mann had raised questions over the independence of the regulator from political interference, after Wheatley was axed by the Chancellor last year. The Chancellor had said a different leadership was needed at the regulator. Former deputy governor for prudential regulation at the Bank of England and CEO of the Prudential Regulation...