FCA Board

Ashley Alder became Chair of the FCA Board in February 2023.

Ashley was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, a role he has held since 2011.

He also chaired the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Ashley began his career as a lawyer in London in 1984 and practised in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. He was Executive Director of the SFC's Corporate Finance Division from 2001 to 2004, before returning to private practice at Herbert Smith LLP, a law firm, as Head of Asia.

John has had a 40-year career in financial services, focusing mainly on pensions, investment and insurance, with roles across the UK, Europe and globally.

John was the Chief Executive of Towers Watson Limited until 2023 and also the UK Managing Director of Willis Towers Watson. Prior to that, he led the firm’s global pensions business, advising large UK financial institutions, FTSE 100 and multinational companies, and spent several years as head of executive remuneration practice.

John is now focused on non-executive roles in financial services, education, healthcare and performing arts. He has a degree in Mathematics from Oxford University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.

Julia has extensive experience of financial regulation, as an academic, consultant and regulator. She has written on regulatory issues and has advised policymakers, consumer bodies, law reform bodies and regulators on institutional design and regulatory policy in the UK and overseas for over 30 years.

Julia was an external member of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Committee from 2018-2024. She is currently an external member of the Bank’s Financial Markets Infrastructure Committee.

Julia is active in policy and funding for science and research. She is President of the British Academy (until July 2025), the UK’s National Academy for humanities and social sciences. She is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Science and Technology and was Senior Independent Member of the Board of the UK Research and Innovation Council from 2017-2023.

Julia is also Warden (principal) of Nuffield College, Oxford, Professor of Law at Oxford University and a visiting Professor at LSE Law School. She is a member of the Board of the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Bernadette joined the FCA Board in April 2020. She is the Senior Independent Director and Deputy Chair.

Bernadette holds a number of non-executive positions and has worked in this capacity across the health, housing, education and property and regeneration sectors. She is currently Chair of the Regulator of Social Housing and the independent Chair of Buildings and Space Management committees at the University of Cambridge. Previous non-executive roles include Chair of Network Homes and non-executive director of Community Health Partnerships (a Department of Health subsidiary). Bernadette is also a Governor of Bancroft’s School.

Prior to this, she held a number of senior executive roles in the financial services sector, latterly as Global Head of Strategy and Planning at HSBC’s Corporate and Investment Bank.

Bernadette has a degree in Mathematics from University of Cambridge and an MBA from INSEAD.

Sophie Hutcherson

Sophie has over 30 years experience in Financial Services, as a regulatory supervisor and policy maker and then in a variety of regional and global roles for multi-national and smaller firms in compliance, risk and general leadership. 

She has extensive experience working internationally with Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers and has previously contributed to Women in Banking & Finance, the City of London Dragon Awards and is a Freeman of the City of London.

Sophie graduated with degrees in the UK and Germany, is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and is an Executive Coach.

Anita has advised boards and executive teams of many of the world’s leading banks, insurers and wealth and asset managers on growth, efficiency, productivity, compliance and digital transformation. She has international experience from living and working across the Asia Pacific, Europe and the US.

Anita’s personal specialisations include fintech innovation and ecosystem dynamics, SME banking, open data and open finance, customer insight and consumer regulation.

Anita was also a member of EY’s global leadership team, driving productivity improvements through the application of AI.

She holds a post graduate qualification in strategy and innovation from Oxford University including a dissertation on conduct risk.

Anita is based in Bristol and takes a keen interest in regional fintech growth through engagement with regional fintech associations, including FinTech West and through her work with the Society of Merchants venturers in Bristol.   

She is also a board member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitration board where she leads the Strategy Committee.  

Richard Lloyd

Richard Lloyd joined the FCA Board in April 2019. He has been Chair of the Risk and Oversight Committees. Richard was FCA Interim Chair between June 2022 – February 2023.

Alongside his role at the FCA, Richard also chairs the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority and a Council member of the Advertising Standards Authority. He was a founding trustee of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute.

Richard led Which? as executive director from 2011 to 2016. Prior to this he was chief executive of the world federation of consumer organisations, Consumers International; head of policy at the housing charity, Shelter; and worked for two years in No10 Downing Street as a special adviser to the Prime Minister. He was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to the economy and consumer rights.

Stéphane has 30 years’ experience in banking. He has worked with advocacy groups, policymakers, and regulators to follow market structure and industry challenges within financial markets.

Stéphane was a board member of ICMA (Global Fixed Income market association) and chairman of the board of ACI FMA (FX and Money Market association present in 60 countries). He was also a board member of several fintech companies.

Stéphane has also been a member of the public/private sector GFXC (Global FX Committee) and the ECB FX Contact Group.

Stéphane has held leading positions at JP Morgan, Societe Generale and at ING Bank in London, New York, Paris and Amsterdam.

Nikhil was appointed Chief Executive[1] of the FCA on 1 October 2020.

He began his career in the Treasury before serving as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister between 2005 – 2008. Nikhil then became Head of the Financial Stability Unit, overseeing a number of the UK’s financial stability interventions before becoming the Treasury’s Director of the Financial Services Group from 2009 – 2014. In that role, he also served as the UK representative to the EU Financial Services Committee.

Nikhil joined the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2014 and was appointed CEO in 2015.

Nikhil holds a BA in philosophy, politics and economics from the University of Oxford.

Aidene Walsh is currently Chair of the Payment Systems Regulator. She is also an Executive Director with Banking Competition Remedies Ltd, the organisation established to implement the Alternative Remedies Package of measures agreed between the UK Government and the European Commission. Prior to joining BCR, Aidene was CEO of The Fairbanking Foundation. In her 26-year banking career, she has held various executive roles in commercial and transaction banking across Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, ABN Amro and Citigroup.

Sam Woods assumed the role of Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and Chief Executive Officer of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) on 1 July 2016. As Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and CEO of the PRA, Sam Woods is also a member of the Bank's Court of Directors, the Prudential Regulation Committee, the Financial Policy Committee, and the Board of the Financial Conduct Authority.

Sam's previous role was Executive Director of Insurance at the PRA. In this role, Sam was responsible for overseeing the monitoring and regulation of over 600 life and general insurance firms. Sam joined the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in 2011 and transferred to the Bank in 2013 with the integration of the PRA. He served as Director for Financial Stability Strategy and Risk, and prior to that was Director for Domestic UK Banks Supervision.

Before joining the FSA/Bank, Sam spent 10 years at the Treasury in a variety of roles.

Bryan Zhang has extensive experience within financial services, particularly within Fintech, Digital Transformation, and Open Banking. He is a Co-Founder and the Executive Director of the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School. He has a decade of experience in researching technology-enabled financial innovation and its interplay with regulation, supervision and policy nationally, regionally and globally. 

Bryan has led and co-authored more than 50 reports on FinTech market trends, industry dynamics, regulatory changes and innovation as well as digital financial inclusion.  He has advised and collaborated with numerous organisations including central banks, financial regulatory authorities, supervisory agencies, international corporations, multilateral development institutions and global standard-setting bodies.

Bryan is a member of Bank of England and HMT’s CBDC Engagement Forum, IMF's FAS Advisory Group, OECD's Steering Group on SME & Entrepreneurship Finance and the Bretton Woods Committee. He co-chairs the Future of Global FinTech Initiative, a collaboration between CCAF and the World Economic Forum. He also served as the Independent Chair of a Strategic Working Group (SWG) that looks at the future development of Open Banking in the UK, appointed by the Joint Regulatory Oversight Committee (JROC).