The Financial Conduct Authority has appointed six new senior directors and added 500 new staff since the beginning of the year.

The news comes as the Unite trade union, currently involved in a dispute with the FCA, has claimed that 1,000 staff have left the FCA since Nikhil Rathi took over as CEO in October 2020. 

Financial Planning Today understands the number of staff who have left the FCA since the arrival of Mr Rathi is closer to 720.

Unite also says that it has put planned strike action at the regulator on hold while talks continue on union recognition and pay.

The FCA said today that its new directors and staff would help it achieve its latest business plan and “ambitious strategy” targets.

Mr Rathi said: “As our remit grows and to deliver on our ambitious strategy, we’re continuing to develop and bring in the skills and talent we need. My executive committee colleagues and I are delighted to announce the latest additions to our leadership team, who will each bring deep expertise and broad experience to the FCA.” 

The new directors are: 

• Roma Pearson appointed as the FCA’s director of consumer finance. She was previously head of department in the risk and compliance oversight division. 

• Camille Blackburn will join the FCA in October to fill the newly created role of director of wholesale buy-side. She joins from Legal & General Investment Management, where she is global chief compliance officer.

• Matthew Long has been appointed as director of payments and digital assets, a new role overseeing the e-money, payment and crypto-asset markets. He is currently a director at the National Economic Crime Command at the National Crime Agency. 

• Anthony Monaghan has been promoted at the FCA to director of retail and regulatory investigations, a role he has covered on an interim basis. He will be responsible for the FCA’s regulatory investigations in sectors including banking, insurance, financial advice and personal pensions. He has been at the FCA since 2010, most recently as head of retail & regulatory investigations in the regulator’s enforcement and market oversight division.

• Karen Baxter will join the FCA’s enforcement team as director of strategy, policy, international and intelligence. She has had a 30-year policing career, holding senior roles including as commander and national coordinator for economic crime at the City of London Police. 

• Simon Walls, who was appointed interim director in May, will continue in the role of director of wholesale, sell-side on a permanent basis.

The FCA says its new appointments fill a mix of new and existing roles and utilise both internal and external recruits. They mean that the FCA has recruited nearly 500 new staff between January and the end of July this year, the watchdog says.

The FCA is also pushing ahead with plans to double its headcount in Scotland and open an office this year in Leeds.

The FCA has been asked to comment on Unite’s claims that 1,000 staff have left the regulator since October 2020.