FCA appoints David Geale executive director, payments and digital finance
The FCA has appointed David Geale as permanent executive director for payments and digital finance, and managing director of the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR).
0
This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author.
In his role David will be responsible for helping to deliver the National Payments Vision and driving the FCA's work on open banking and digital finance.
David will also play a key role in the work to consolidate the PSR into the FCA, as announced by the Government in March. He will also be responsible for supervising payments and cryptoasset firms under the recently announced regime.
Aidene Walsh, chair of the PSR said: 'David has played a key role in fostering greater alignment and strengthening the relationship between the FCA and the PSR. This will be increasingly important as we move towards consolidation while at the same time continuing to deliver the important work that the PSR does, including on APP fraud and card processing fees.'
Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive of the FCA said: 'David brings a wealth of experience that will be vital as we deliver the National Payments Vision as well as unlocking the potential that open finance and open banking can bring.'
David Geale said: 'I'm delighted to be taking on this new role at such an important and exciting time for both organisations, and the payments sector as a whole. I look forward to working with colleagues, consumer groups and the wider industry as we take the next steps in our work.'
David was previously director of retail banking at the FCA. He has worked at the FCA and its predecessor, the FSA, for more than 20 years, carrying out a number of roles in policy and supervision. He was involved in leading and delivering policies such as the Retail Distribution Review and policy changes during the UK's exit from the European Union. More recently, David has led the FCA's work on developing a regime for cryptoassets as well as savings rates and reforming the mortgage market as set out in the FCA's letter to the Prime Minister on growth.
David has been acting as the managing director of the PSR since June 2024.
Following David's appointment, Emad Aladhal has been appointed permanent director of retail banking with Andrea Bowe becoming permanent director, specialist directorate. Both have been carrying out the roles on an interim basis.
Background
Details of the consolidation of the PSR can be found hereLink is external .
Prior to being interim director of retail banking, Emad was director of the FCA's specialist directorate, which included financial crime, Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS), financial resilience, client assets, resolution and insolvency, and technology, resilience and cyber. Emad previously co-led the FCA's strategy commitment on reducing and preventing financial crime, and is now part of the director team on helping consumers. Prior to re-joining the FCA in 2017, Emad was a compliance director at a top-tier investment bank, and has prior extensive experience as a regulatory consultant, where he has advised on various aspects of regulation, which included advising on the UK administration of a failed large investment bank during the last financial crisis.
Andrea has spent the last 18 years at the FCA, including 14 years in FCA enforcement and advancing to influential positions, including chief of staff to Nikhil Rathi, Chief Executive. Andrea led Nikhil's transition into the FCA and subsequently co-led the FCA's ambitious transformation programme. During this time, she was also interim director of FCA communications. In her current role as director of the specialist directorate in supervision, policy and competition, she has responsibility for prudential policy, standards and supervision, cyber and operational resilience, client assets, resolution and insolvency and financial crime, fraud and OPBAS. She co-leads the FCA's current 5-year strategy commitment to fighting financial crime, contributing to the UK's national Economic Crime Plan and Fraud Strategy. She is chair of the International Organisation of Securities Commission's (E)MMoU Monitoring Group and Monitoring Steering Committee, responsible for monitoring the operation of, and compliance with, the (E)MMoU, including decision making on disputes and matters of non-compliance.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Aston Villa move to sell women's team in push to avoid PSR breach
Aston Villa have moved to sell their women's team to help comply with the Premier League's profitability and sustainability regulations. Villa are confident of avoiding a PSR breach, empowering them to keep their star players. Villa have agreed a deal to sell their women's team to V Sports, their parent company founded by the club's billionaire owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris. V Sports also owns a 29% stake in the Portuguese side Vitória SC and a 25% stake in Real Unión, in which Villa's manager, Unai Emery, has a controlling stake. Emiliano Martínez is thought to be seeking a fresh challenge but the Argentina goalkeeper, thought to be the club's highest earner, is under contract until 2029. Villa have no desire to sell assets such as Morgan Rogers or Ollie Watkins. Chelsea balanced the books by selling their women's team to the club's parent company, BlueCo, generating almost £200m. For Villa, the sale of the women's team would provide a significant financial boost in their PSR calculations. Villa finished sixth in the Women's Super League last season and have played in the top flight since 2020-21. Villa's men's team also finished sixth in 2024-25, securing a place in the Europa League. Villa have been working to alleviate financial pressures after absorbing losses of £195m across the past two years. Fringe players could be offloaded but Emery is determined to enhance his squad after qualifying for European competition for a third successive season. Villa are working to terminate the contract of Philippe Coutinho, who signed permanently from Barcelona on a four-year contract worth about £125,000 a week in 2022. The 33-year-old Brazil midfielder has spent the past two seasons on loans. The defender Kaine Kesler-Hayden, who spent last season on loan at Preston, is expected to join Coventry for £3.5m and the forward Louie Barry could join Hull, where he spent the second half of last season on loan, on a permanent basis. Neither deal would have a significant bearing on Villa's PSR. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion The loans of Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi end on Monday, when the contracts of backup goalkeeper Robin Olsen and defender Kortney Hause also finish.
Telegraph
39 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Aston Villa close in on £55m women's team deal to help avoid PSR breach
Aston Villa's bid to avoid breaching Premier League financial controls has seen the club hold talks over a selling a stake in their women's team to investors that could put a value in the region of £55 million on it. Telegraph Sport understands that Villa have been working on a deal that would involve selling as much as 10 per cent of the women's team to investors with a view to selling the rest of it to the club's holding company to help them comply with profit and sustainability rules (PSR). It can also be revealed that Villa have committed to bringing down their player costs by almost 20 per cent over this summer and next, as they wait to find out whether or not they will be punished by Uefa. Although the June 30 accounting deadline expires on Monday, it is possible for the sale of an asset, such as the women's team, to be included in the 2024/25 accounts if the sale has been agreed in principle but the price has not been finalised. Villa's pricing of the women's team could effectively be sealed by selling a stake to investors who are thought to have held talks about buying as much as 10 per cent for around £5.5 million. That would allow Villa to sell the remaining 90 per cent to the club's own parent company, controlled by billionaire Nassef Sawiris, potentially generating around £55 million in total as PSR compliant funds. It is understood that a similar process has been considered for 'The Warehouse', the club's new music and events space in the North Stand car park with a potential value of around £50 million. The Warehouse, when completed, will be opened to fans on matchdays. It was also established as a live venue, which the club says will be run by the specialist company Oak View Group, and used on non-matchdays. Last year, Villa rushed through the pre-June 30 sale of midfielder Douglas Luiz to Juventus to generate the PSR funds that would avoid a points deduction and this time around have looked at different methods to raise the necessary income. Villa, who reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season, reported a loss of £85.4 million for the 2023-24 campaign following a loss of £119.6 million for 2022-23. The club turned a profit of £300,000 in 2021-22, but a combined loss of more than £105 million over three seasons would constitute a PSR breach. Spending on infrastructure, youth and women's football is exempt. The Premier League's PSR rules are not the only issue for Villa, who qualified for next season's Europa League and must comply with Uefa's own financial controls – squad cost ratio rules (SCR). These put a limit on spending relative to revenue. Uefa does not permit clubs to register income from assets, such as the sale of the women's team to related parties and sister companies. Under Uefa regulations, clubs are permitted £170 million losses over a three-year period and those in European competition were required to keep spending on player wages and fees at a maximum of 80 per cent of revenue in the 2023-24 season, when Villa reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League. That dropped to 70 per cent for the most recent season and Villa have been holding talks with Uefa about committing to a spending plan that will see their squad cost ratio decrease this summer and the next. It is understood that Villa have committed to bringing down their squad cost ratio by a percentage under 10 per cent this summer and a further percentage under 10 per cent next summer in the hope of avoiding heavy sanctions. That is likely to involve the sale of at least one first-team player. Top earner Emi Martinez, Lucas Digne, Ollie Watkins and academy graduate Jacob Ramsey have all been linked with moves away from Villa Park, while Morgan Rogers has attracted the interest of a host of clubs. Villa and Chelsea are expected to find out imminently their punishments for breaching Uefa's SCR rules, with fines thought to be the most likely outcomes for both clubs. Chelsea sold their women's team to the club's holding company for £198.7 million, with Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian purchasing a stake of between eight and 10 per cent for £20 million.
Leader Live
2 hours ago
- Leader Live
Rise in number of mortgage approvals to home buyers in May, says Bank of England
Around 63,000 mortgages were approved for house purchase in May, which was around 2,400 more than in April. The Bank's Money and Credit report said: 'This was the first increase since December 2024. Approvals for remortgaging (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) also increased in May, by 6,200 to 41,500. This is the largest increase since February 2024.' Stamp duty discounts became less generous for some home buyers from April. Stamp duty applies in England and Northern Ireland. But several lenders have recently made changes to their mortgage affordability assessments, enabling some people to potentially borrow more, following clarification from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Andrew Montlake, chief executive at mortgage broker Coreco, described the uplift in home buyer mortgage approvals as 'a welcome breath of air'. He said: 'A lot of activity this year to date has been skewed by the stamp duty deadline in April, but that is now in the rear-view mirror and this points to growing confidence among borrowers and a realisation that the new norm is here to stay, at least for now. 'Demand for mortgages is still there, even though rates appear to have stabilised for now. We've seen a lot of lender innovation around affordability in recent months and that may be starting to feed through into this data. 'It's a market delicately balanced on sentiment and affordability but if lenders continue to price competitively and inflation holds its ground, we may just see these green shoots become more sustainable.' Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said a rise in the number of home sales agreed 'has boosted the demand for mortgages from home buyers. 'More homes for sale means more buyers and sales. We expect demand for mortgages to continue to increase as more sales are agreed. The market remains on track for 5% more sales in 2025.' Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: 'Remortgaging numbers jumped by 6,200 in the month, suggesting that borrowers are keen to shop around for better deals even if it means the hassle of applying to another lender.' Looking at non-mortgage borrowing, the annual growth rate for consumer credit slowed to 6.5% in May, from 6.7% in April. Within the figure, the annual growth rate for credit card borrowing eased to 9.2% from 9.9%, over the same period. Households' deposits with banks and building societies increased by £4.3 billion in May, following net deposits of £2.8 billion in April. The increase was partly driven by households depositing an additional £3.9 billion into Isas. Mark Hicks, head of active savings, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Savers are continuing to squirrel money away at impressive rates, and cash Isas are still dominating the picture. 'May is always going to see less flowing into cash Isas than the first month of the new tax year, but with another £3.9 billion being saved into cash Isas in May, the appeal of tax-free savings is clearly still a massive draw.' In May, UK non-financial businesses borrowed, on net, £8.6 billion of loans from banks and building societies, including overdrafts, following £1.2 billion of net borrowing in April. This was the biggest amount of net borrowing since April 2020, when £15.9 billion was recorded, the Bank said. Within this, big non-financial businesses borrowed, on net, £8.2 billion, compared to £1.3 billion of net borrowing in April. Small and medium-sized non-financial businesses (SMEs) borrowed, on net, £0.4 billion, compared to flat net borrowing in April. The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses increased to 8.4% in May from 5.9% in April, and was the highest since September 2022 (9.1%).
