On 22 March 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a Statement of Policy on appointments to its statutory panels.

The Statement of Policy outlines the intended approach for appointing members to these panels in accordance with section 1RA of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the Act). HM Treasury (HMT) was consulted with respect to the document.

The FCA’s statutory panels are:

  • Consumer Panel.
  • Practitioner Panel.
  • Smaller Business Practitioner Panel.
  • Markets Practitioner Panel.
  • Listing Authority Advisory Panel.
  • Cost Benefit Analysis Panel.

The Statement of Policy includes information about the process for making appointments and sets out the factors considered by the FCA when determining membership. These include:

  • Consideration of the skills and perspectives needed to ensure membership of each panel includes a representative balance of relevant stakeholders and interests. The Act also sets out more detailed requirements regarding composition.
  • In certain cases, a member of one panel may also sit on another panel as an ex officio member or attend meetings which are of particular relevance, in order to foster cross-panel collaboration. Panels may also meet jointly.
  • Members of the statutory panels must be external to the FCA, Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the Bank of England (BoE), the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) or HMT. Section 1MA of the Act prevents a person who receives remuneration from the FCA, the PRA, the PSR, the BoE or HMT from being appointed as a member of any of the FCA’s statutory panels. This disqualification does not apply in respect of a panel if regulations made by HMT provide for it not to apply to that panel. Members are appointed in an individual capacity and not as representatives of any organisation.

The Statement of Policy has been published as part of the FCA’s broader objective of ensuring transparency around how it gains access to wide-ranging expertise across its panels, to help it achieve its statutory objectives.