FSA chief executive Hector Sants resigns

Sants took the position in July 2007, presiding over the Authority over the course of the financial crisis.

Sants said, “When I was appointed I told the board that I planned to serve as CEO for three years, and I intend to stick to that timetable.

“Of course, those three years have encompassed the most extraordinary circumstances for a financial regulator, and I am very proud of the manner in which the FSA rose to the challenge of dealing with such unprecedented turbulence across global financial markets,” he added.

Sants’ announcement comes at a time when the organisation’s future may depend on the outcome of the next UK election, expected in May this year. George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer for the Conservative party, has pledged to abolish the FSA, and split its purview between the Bank of England and a planned Consumer Protection Agency.

Sants and FSA chairman Lord Turner recently met US Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Shapiro as part of an ongoing cooperative alliance between the two regulators. The SEC has of late intensified its level of scrutiny for alternative investment asset classes, and has introduced a new unit to clamp down on private equity corruption.

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