The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has appointed its very first Director of Innovation. According to a tweet by the financial regulator, Nick Cook has been selected to take over the new role.
We’re delighted to announce that Nick Cook has been appointed as our first Director of Innovation #fcainnovate pic.twitter.com/SvxhraU4bk
— FCA (@TheFCA) March 1, 2019
Cook is not new to the FCA, he previously Head of Regtech – another hot sector of Fintech.
According to a blog post from 2018, Cook has engaged with the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Financial Innovation Standing Committee on behalf of the FCA and was previously at the FSA (the FSA was regrouped and turned into the FCA) where he was part of the enforcement division. So he has been around the regulatory block a few times.
The FCA already has a Director of Competition so it seems natural to appoint a manager to oversee innovation. Perhaps regulators and other global jurisdictions could learn a thing or two about how policy and rules can benefit by taking into consideration more than just investor protection?
Congrats to Nick.
