PSR and FCA Boards appoint new members to decision-making committees

 

These three committees are responsible for taking certain competition law and regulatory decisions when a settlement cannot be reached. 

 

Lesley Ainsworth, Simon Polito, David Thomas and Tim Tutton have been appointed as members of the PSR’s EDC and the FCA and PSR’s CDCs. Alasdair Smith has been appointed a panel member of the FCA’s CDC.

 

Charles Randell, Chairman of the PSR and FCA, commented: “The candidates all have considerable competition and regulatory experience in a variety of sectors, and will enable these decision-making committees of the PSR and FCA to maintain high standards in their important work.”

 

Appointees:

 

• Lesley Ainsworth has been appointed as a member of the PSR’s EDC and the FCA and PSR’s CDCs. She is currently a Panel Member of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), a role she has held since July 2013. During her time at the CMA she has served on the panels for energy market investigation and investment consultants. Lesley has over 30 years of experience working in the legal sector, including as a competition lawyer and partner at Hogan Lovells. She also holds voluntary positions as Vice Chair of governors at St Albans School and a member of the governing body of St Albans School for Girls.

 

• Simon Polito has been appointed a Panel Member of the FCA and PSR’s CDC and the PSR’s EDC. He is a competition law specialist, with over 35 years’ experience working at Hogan Lovells. After leaving Hogan Lovells in 2011, Simon became Deputy Chairman of the Competition Commission. He then became Inquiry Chair at the CMA, a role he held for four years. Whilst at the CMA, he chaired Phase 2 mergers inquiries, payday lending market investigation and four Case Decision Groups.

 

• Alasdair Smith has been appointed a Panel Member of the FCA’s CDC. He is currently a Member of the Determinations Panel at The Pensions Regulator, a Commissioner at the Scottish Fiscal Commission, and Emeritus Professor of Economics and Member of UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex. As a Deputy Chair at the Competition Commission, and an Inquiry Chair at the CMA between 2012 and 2017 Alasdair chaired nine merger inquiries and the market investigations in private motor insurance and retail banking. Alasdair has also recently been appointed as Senior Adviser within the PSR.

 

• David Thomas has been appointed as a member of the PSR’s EDC and the FCA and PSR’s CDCs. He has 34 years of experience in regulated sectors as both an accountant and economist and is currently a Specialist Panel Member at the Competition and Markets Authority. He is also a member of the Consumer Panel at the Civil Aviation Authority. David started his career at PwC and has held roles at Ofcom and KPMG, before starting his economic consultancy company, DT Economics in 2016. During his career, he has advised over 150 operators and regulators on matters such as competition, regulatory pricing, cost modelling and customer engagement.

 

• Tim Tutton has been appointed as a Panel Member of the FCA and PSR’s CDCs and the PSR’s EDC. He is currently a Panel Member of the CMA, a Non-Executive Director at Bristol Water plc, an Honorary Lecturer in Economics at City University and a freelance adviser on economic and regulatory issues. As a Panel Member at the CMA, he sat on the panel which conducted a market investigation of the payday lending industry and is currently on the panel investigating the market in investment consultants. Tim has over 30 years’ experience in economic regulation. During his career, he has worked as a Senior Adviser at Oxera, a UK Director of Regulation and Director of the Transmission Price Control Review at National Grid and was Director of UK Utility Regulation at PWC.