The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that is appointing Therese Chambers and Steve Smart as joint executive directors of enforcement and market oversight.

Therese Chambers has worked at the FCA for over 20 years, spending most of that time working in enforcement, including as director of retail and regulatory investigations.

She is currently the director of consumer investments in the supervision, policy and competition division.

Steve Smart is joining the regulator from the National Crime Agency, where he sits on the executive committee as director of intelligence, leading a division of over 2000 people.

Smart has also worked in the private sector where he led the development of an integrated intelligence and investigations department in a major banking group.

The FCA said that the expansion of its enforcement and market oversight leadership team, following Mark Steward’s departure, reflects the "vital role that enforcement work plays in delivering its three-year strategy and its commitments to reducing the growth in financial crime".

“Enforcement is a key regulatory tool allowing us to hold firms and individuals to account for wrongdoing and helping to reduce and prevent serious harm to consumers and in markets,” said Nikhil Rathi, chief executive, FCA. “We are committed to acting faster and more effectively, putting the power of technology, data and intelligence at the heart of our enforcement operations."

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