Mark Steward will be stepping down as the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) executive director of enforcement and market oversight after seven years with the regulator.
Since joining the FCA in 2015, Steward (pictured) has led the delivery of some of the FCA’s complex and high-profile enforcement cases, with successes against global financial institutions and individuals, said the FCA.
Under Steward’s watch, in 2020 the FCA fined motor finance provider Moneybarn £2.77 million for failing to treat vulnerable customers fairly when they fell into financial difficulty, and just months later Barclays received a £26m fine for poor treatment of its consumer credit customers.
Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, said: “Mark has brought his formidable experience as a regulator and as a litigator to the FCA, delivering significant enforcement cases across a broad spectrum, as well as the FCA’s data-led approach to market oversight.
“That enormous contribution is a result of Mark’s abiding belief in fairness, that markets must be clean if the economy is to thrive and in doing the right thing on behalf of consumers.
“He has shown that the FCA is willing to take on challenging cases, will use the full extent of our powers and will deliver results that have a real impact for the markets we oversee and for those who rely on them.”
Last month (September 2022), the FCA announced it had written to insurance sector CEOs as part of a bid to protect consumers from “unnecessary products or add-ons and unfair penalties” during the cost-of-living crisis.
Car retailers have been told “there can be no compromise” when it comes to the technology leveraged to ensure compliance with the FCA’s new Consumer Duty.
Steward joined the FCA from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), where he was executive director with responsibility for the enforcement division.
Before joining the SFC, Steward held several senior positions with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), including deputy executive director, enforcement.
He has been involved in corporate and securities regulation since 1987 in both Australia and in the UK, specialising in investigatory work and resulting litigation.
Steward said: “It has been a privilege to serve the FCA throughout many challenges over the last seven years and, as I move on, to leave behind such a strong team for the future.”
Steward will leave the FCA in Spring 2023 and the search for his successor will begin shortly.