Mark Steward is stepping down as the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) executive director of enforcement and market oversight after seven years with the regulator.
Steward joined the FCA in 2015 and will leave the in spring 2023.
The regulator praised Steward for his work delivering some of the FCA’s most “complex, high-profile, and precedent-setting” enforcement cases, with many notable successes against major global financial institutions and individuals.
He also led the FCA’s listing authority and oversight of the UK’s publicly traded markets, a role in which he developed the FCA’s data-led approach to market oversight, it said.
Additionally, he has been at the forefront of the FCA’s anti-scam marketing campaign, Scamsmart.
Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the FCA, said: “Mark has brought his formidable experience as a regulator and as a litigator to the FCA, delivering significant enforcement cases across a broad spectrum, as well as the FCA’s data-led approach to market oversight.
“That enormous contribution is a result of Mark’s abiding belief in fairness, that markets must be clean if the economy is to thrive and in doing the right thing on behalf of consumers.
“He has shown that the FCA is willing to take on challenging cases, will use the full extent of our powers and will deliver results that have a real impact for the markets we oversee and for those who rely on them.
“I am hugely grateful for Mark’s leadership, dedication and expertise and wish him the very best for the future.”
Steward added: “It has been a privilege to serve the FCA throughout many challenges over the last seven years and, as I move on, to leave behind such a strong team for the future.”
The FCA added a global search for Steward’s successor will begin shortly.