People: UK regulators appoint new complaints commissioner

Central banks in Madagascar and Barbados get new board members
antony-townsend-sra
Outgoing commissioner Antony Townsend

UK: Amerdeep Somal has been appointed complaints commissioner for the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority.

Somal will replace Antony Townsend in the role on November 1, for an initial term of three years. Townsend was appointed in 2014 and was re-appointed in 2017.

The commissioner oversees the final stage of investigations into complaints against the FCA, PRA and the BoE. The role is independent from the three organisations.

“I will ensure these important institutions are held accountable and open to rigorous scrutiny,” Somal said on her appointment.

Somal holds a number of other oversight positions in the UK’s public sector. She will have to leave her role as independent assessor of the Financial Ombudsmen Service in order to take up the post.

She will also have to step down from her role as a council member of the General Medical Council, and as a panel member for appointments to the government’s Cabinet Office. However, she will be able to remain as a judge for the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, and as chief commissioner at the Data and Marketing Commission.

During his time as commissioner, Townsend oversaw the ruling of a long-standing complaint over the accuracy of data held by the FCA and subsequent measures to respond to errors.

An initial report into the same complaints was first presented in 2009. Townsend then also considered the case in February 2017. In August 2018, he ruled the FCA had taken appropriate steps to address the issues raised.

More recently, he expressed broader concerns about the way complaints are handled by the FCA. In his annual report published in July, Townsend said consumers faced “appalling delays” at the FCA and warned the past year had been dominated by shortcomings within the complaints team.

Barbados: Vere Brathwaite and Simon Naitrim have been appointed to the board of the Central Bank of Barbados for two- and one-year terms respectively.

The central bank’s appointment structure for the board is unconventional. According to the Central Bank of Barbados Act, each board member can hold office for three years and be eligible for re-appointment.

However, of the five non-executive board members, one is appointed for one year, two for two years and two for three years.

Brathwaite has a 30-year career in the legal sector. According to the central bank, she has been involved in the oversight and regulation of the non-bank financial sector during his career.

Naitrim is president of the Barbados Economic Society and has a PhD from the University of Glasgow. He now lectures in microeconomics and mathematics for economics at the University of the West Indies.

The central bank also announced that current board member Justin Robinson has been reappointed for another two years. He was initially appointed for a one-year term. Robinson is head of the department of management studies at the University of the West Indies.

The board is responsible for the policy and administration of the central bank and is required to meet no fewer than 10 times a year.

Madagascar: Madagascar’s council of ministers, equivalent to the country’s cabinet, appointed three non-executive directors to the Central Bank of Madagascar’s board in August 2020.

Hery Zojaona Tantely Reziky Zafimarina Stefana, Eliane Tantely Rakotoarivony, and Ana Rakotozaf will all serve a five-year term.

The three appointees will join existing members of the committee, which includes three more non-executive directors, and the central bank’s governor and two vice-governors.

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