Financial Planning firm founder becomes FCA panel chair
The founder of a Financial Planning and advisory firm has been put at the helm of a group within the Financial Conduct Authority.
Clinton Askew, director of Citywide Financial Partners, which he established in 2004, takes over as chairman of the FCA Smaller Business Practitioner Panel.
The role lasts for two years.
Mr Askew has been a member of the panel since 2009, representing independent financial advisers. IFP board member Melony Holman CFPCM works with Mr Askew's firm.
Mr Askew is one of three new chairs appointed by the regulator and approved by HM Treasury, all of whom take up their roles on 1 April.
Alison Brittain, Robert Mass and Clinton Askew will succeed Graham Beale, Paul Swann and Andrew Turberville Smith respectively.
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The FCA Practitioner Panel is to be chaired by Alison Brittain, group director of retail, Lloyds Banking Group while the FCA Markets Practitioner Panel will be headed by Robert Mass, head of international compliance and global head of securities division compliance at Goldman Sachs.
The panels are independent statutory bodies that represent the interests of the financial services industry within the UK's regulatory framework.
FCA chairman John Griffith-Jones said: "These appointments ensure that once again the panels will have experienced and respected voices making the case from the industry's perspective.
"The current regulatory framework depends on the panels being able to play their part and I am sure that the new chairs will continue the excellent work of their predecessors.
"I would like to thank Graham, Paul and Andrew for their contributions over the last two years which oversaw the establishment of the FCA."
Panel members are recruited to represent sectors and the industry as a whole, rather than individual firms.
They are part of the system that the FCA set up to make and maintain effective arrangements for consulting practitioners and consumers on the extent to which its general policies and practices are consistent with its general duties, as set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.