A PFS member who holds the Diploma in Financial Planning has joined an FCA enforcement panel.

Nick Lord DipPFS, an independent consultant, who, according to the PFS, spends around two days a week providing generic financial advice, has been added to the Regulatory Decisions Committee.

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman Karen Johnston has also been appointed to the RDC.

Mr Lord sits on the PFS Consumer Insight Panel and has thirty years of experience in money advice. He has been involved with the regulation of consumer credit and mortgage credit.

The RDC is responsible for taking certain regulatory decisions on behalf of the FCA relating to enforcement and supervisory actions, and firm authorisation and individual approval applications.

The RDC is the decision maker for some decision and warning notices, including those relating to:

• cancelling permissions and registrations
• prohibitions
• financial penalties
• suspensions/restrictions
• withdrawal of approvals
• public censures

Much of Mr Lord’s work has been with a range of not-for-profit and commercial organisations, government departments and trade bodies. He is also a director of the Short Term Lending Board, member of the FLA Lending Code Board and chairman of the Lenderscompared Governance Board.

Past positions include being an adviser to the review that led to the Money Advice Service, and member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel. Current positions include trustee of a debt advice charity, non-executive director of a large short-term credit lender and chairman of the governance board of Lenderscompared.

Ms Johnston is a lawyer with over 20 years’ experience gained across public, private and voluntary sectors. She is currently the Deputy Pensions Ombudsman and Vice-Chair of Brighton and Hove Citizens Advice Bureau, the lead agency in a city-wide debt advice partnership.

At the independent bar, her practice included mortgage, consumer credit, debt and white collar crime. In 2000 she joined the Office of Fair Trading, where she advised on credit licensing, unfair terms in consumer contracts, distance selling, cross border enforcement and scam avoidance cases. She joined the Pensions Regulator in 2005, where she worked initially on the establishment of a cross border authorization regime for pensions. She then worked closely with DWP policy makers to develop the regime which established NEST and auto-enrolment.

Tim Parkes, the chair of the RDC, said: “I am delighted to welcome our newest members to the committee. Karen and Nick bring a wealth of consumer-focused knowledge and experience in the consumer credit and other sectors, which will complement existing committee members.”