A recent bit of news has been little reported in August, but it is a fact that has
been picked up by satirical journals such as Private Eye.
The fact: Sir Callum McCarthy is leaving the
Financial Services Authority having been its Chairman since 2003. He’s off to pastures anew and handing over his mantle
to Lord Adair Turner, trusted ally of Gordon Brown. Lord Turner was otherwise known as “Red Adair”
when he was the former Director-General of the CBI, and the real Red Adair was a
renowned fire-fighter … skills that the new Chairman will be in desperate need.
Meanwhile, where’s Sir Callum going?
In an ‘open competition’ for these new roles at the Treasury, a hard-fought fight saw Sir Callum and Deidre Hutton, former Deputy Chair of the FSA, become
non-executive members of the Board of the Treasury.
Nice to see such a genuine search for talent resulted in the right people being placed in these roles.
As Private Eye says: “McCarthy is stepping down from the financial regulator
and chancellor Alistair Darling has found the perfect new job for him: as a
non-executive director of the Treasury itself. Having been in charge of regulation when Northern Rock imploded, he can
now be first on the scene when the entire economy collapses.”
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
