City watchdog confirms director of supervision Adamson is to leave his post

THE executive at the centre of the City watchdog’s botched handling of an insurance industry probe is to quit, the Financial Conduct Author it y ( F C A) has confirmed, shortly before a report is published.

Director of supervision Clive Adamson is expected to leave in January while communications director Zitah McMillan is also on her way out, the FCA said. It comes ahead of an independent inquiry to be published tomorrow by Simon Davis, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance.

The inquiry was set up after Mr Adamson disclosed details of the FCA’s investigation in to 30 million financial policies sold between the 1970s and the turn of the millennium in a newspaper interview.

That disclosure then sent insurance shares tumbling.

FCA chief executive Martin Wheatley admitted that the regulator’s handling of the affair, in March, was not its “finest hour”.

Mr Adamson said yesterday: “I have been considering for some time when I should embark on the next phase of my career, and feel the time is now right to hand over to others to continue the important work of the FCA and to seek new challenges.”

Previously an official at the FCA’s predecessor, the Finan- cial Services Authority (FSA), he had also raised eyebrows earlier this year when he defended his decision to approve Paul Flowers as chairman of the Co-operative Bank in 2010.

He told MPs in January that he had not made a mistake – despite Mr Flowers’s lack of banking experience, a subsequent drugs scandal, and the near-collapse of the lender.

Mr Wheatley said: “Clive is a respected figure in financial services and I know his many friends here at the FCA and across the industry will join me in thanking him for all that he has done for the industry over the years.”

Meanwhile Mr Wheatley paid tribute to Ms McMillan’s “creativity, curiosity and strategic contribution”. The FCA said the departures were not connected to the Davis report. It also announced that director of authorisations Victoria Raffe was to leave.

It said the moves were part of structural changes following a review of strategy including “lessons learned from recent external reviews”.