The UK’s new consumer protection regulator is to be led by Martin Wheatley, current head of Hong Kong’s regulatory authority.

The British Treasury announced Wednesday that Wheatley will become chief executive designate of the Consumer Protection and Markets Authority, which is to take over consumer protection duties from the UK’s Financial Services Authority.

Wheatley will be formally appointed to the post of CEO once the new body has been established at the end of 2012. In the meantime, he will join the FSA as a new managing director of the FSA’s consumer and markets business unit, starting in September. In that role, he will work with the current FSA executive team to prepare for the transition to the new regulatory structure. When he takes up this post, the government will also appoint him to the board of the FSA.

Wheatley is returning to the UK after six years with the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, where he is now CEO. Prior to that, he was deputy chief executive of the London Stock Exchange and was also chairman of the FTSE International.

“Martin brings a wealth of global regulatory managerial and markets experience and I am confident he will be an excellent CEO of the CPMA. He will join us on September 1 and will play a key role in shaping the design of the CPMA, including a new philosophy of consumer protection,” said FSA chair, Adair Turner.

The appointment was applauded by the UK’s Financial Services Consumer Panel, which called the move “a fresh start for consumer protection”.

“This marks a significant opportunity to get change for consumers.  A strong CPMA will be a vital part of the process of restoring consumer trust and building a new era of consumer focused financial services,” said Adam Phillips, chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel.
“I am looking forward to taking up my new role, in particular the opportunity to help shape the creation of a new regulatory authority is a challenge I relish. I want to ensure the CPMA will deliver a regulatory regime that ensures market confidence and delivers strong consumer protection,” Wheatley said.

Wheatley spoke to IE:TV’s Gavin Adamson at a meeting of international securities regulators in Montreal last summer on the issue of evolving equity market structure: Regulators ask if all investors are getting best trading prices.

IE