Tracey McDermott spurns top job at Financial Conduct Authority
Chancellor George Osborne has made the surprise announcement that Tracey McDermott, acting head of the Financial Conduct Authority, does not want the role permanently.
His revelation came as a shock to senior figures in the watchdog and across the City.
Speculation had been growing that within weeks McDermott would be announced as the watchdog’s new boss, having taken over from Martin Wheatley after he was sacked by Osborne in the summer.
But Osborne said today that McDermott “doesn’t want the job full-time”. He told Radio 4: “We are looking now for the very best candidate.”
The Evening Standard understands McDermott took herself out of the running in the past few days.
That leaves headhunters Zygos with the problem of deciding whether to restart the process of drawing up a shortlist for the £700,000-a-year job.
Its original list was headed by McDermott but included Australian securities chief regulator Greg Medcraft and Mark Branson, the British head of Swiss regulator Finma, as well as, reportedly, one other unidentified person.
Osborne’s falling-out with Wheatley and his comments that the age of “banker bashing” has ended means the new FCA boss will have to tread a fine political line.
