Consumer Panel announces new appointments for January 2011

The Financial Services Consumer Panel has announced four new appointments to take effect in January 2011, and the retirement of one of its long-standing members.

David Harker, Frances Harrison, Dan Plant and Faith Reynolds will all join the Panel with effect from 1st January 2011 following approval by the FSA Board at its December meeting.

Nick Lord will be retiring from the Consumer Panel at the end of December 2010 having served on the Panel for six years.

Adam Phillips, Chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel said:

"We welcome the new members joining us in 2011 who bring a wealth of talent and experience to the Consumer Panel.

The Panel's new members will ensure that the Panel maintains a wide spread of experience and knowledge across the financial services sector and help keep the protection of consumers at the heart of developments in the new regulatory structure.

We are, of course, sorry to lose Nick Lord from the Panel. He has made a huge contribution to our work over the years, including chairing one of our working groups. We wish him well for the future."

Notes to editors

1. David Harker is a non-executive director of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, the gas and electricity regulator, and a member of the Council of the Advertising Standards Authority, which regulates advertising in the UK. For thirteen years he was the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, the national body for Citizens Advice Bureaux. Previously he spent eight years as the Managing Director of Sense, the national disability charity. David's earlier career included management consultancy, running an inner city charity, and working as a policy analyst for a local authority and as research and press officer for a trade union. David received an OBE for services to the voluntary sector in 2003 and was made a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute in 2009.

2. Frances Harrison has been Manager of Fairbridge West, a charity which supports inner city youth, since 2003. Previously she spent nine years with the National Consumer Council as Head of Policy Research and Development (1999-2003), and Senior Policy Officer, High Street Law and Practice (1994-1999). Prior to this, Frances worked for the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux as a Specialist Support Officer for consumer law from 1983 to 1994. Frances has also worked for the Wolverhampton Metropolitan Borough Council as Manager of a Consumer Advice Centre, and for West Midlands County Council in their Consumer Protection Department. She has a Masters (LLM) in Commercial Law from the University of Bristol.

3. Dan Plant is Web Editor at MoneySavingExpert.com. Dan has been at MSE for 6 years, and his role has expanded into a senior management position, consulting on and overseeing campaigns, developing new tools to help consumers and managing the website, which has around nine million monthly users. Dan has appeared regularly on local radio slots such as BBC Radio Bristol and he writes a regular column for Men's Health magazine. Dan has a BSc in Mathematics and an MSc in Social & Political Theory.

4. Faith Reynolds is an inaugural Clore Social Fellow, currently undertaking research on Big Society while being based at the Institute for Government. Until Autumn 2009 Faith was Development Manager at Toynbee Hall, East London, where she led strategic development for Financial Inclusion. She established Services Against Financial Exclusion in 2002, which has since helped over 10,000 people manage their money more effectively. In 2004 Faith founded Transact, the national forum for financial inclusion which has over 1,400 organisational members across the UK from the not-for-profit, public and private sectors. Faith is a member of HM Treasury's Financial Inclusion Taskforce and its Money Advice Sub-group, advising Government on its financial inclusion strategy. She has also advised major high street banks on the development of their financial products and services.

5. Retiring member Nick Lord can be found on the Consumer Panel website.

6. The Consumer Panel is a statutory body under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and was initially established by the Financial Services Authority in December 1998. The Panel advises the FSA Board on the interests and concerns of consumers and reports on the FSA’s performance in meeting its objectives.

7. The emphasis of the Panel’s work is on activities that are regulated by the FSA, although it may also look at the impact on consumers of activities outside but related to the FSA’s remit.

8. There are currently eleven members of the Panel as listed below. (For further information on individual members, see Who is on the panel)[1]