The Treasury has appointed Rachel Kent as the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner. Rachel will succeed Amerdeep Somal as the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner, serving a five-year term starting on 1 January 2024.
Rachel will begin her role as Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner on 1 January 2024, commencing a five-year term, succeeding the current Commissioner, Amerdeep Somal.
Rachel is an experienced financial services lawyer, who recently led the Investment Research Review (IRR), which considered the provision of investment research and its contribution to the competitiveness of the UK’s capital markets.
This is the first time that the Treasury has appointed the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner, who was previously appointed by the financial services regulators, following changes made by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. This change was designed to provide a further layer of independence to the role and support the effectiveness of the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner.
The Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner has responsibility for independently reviewing complaints about the UK’s financial services regulators and the Bank of England. They have the power to make recommendations to the regulators, including recommending that they provide appropriate remedies where a complaint is upheld.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Bim Afolami, said:
“I am delighted to announce that Rachel Kent has been appointed as the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner. This role is fundamental in ensuring that the regulators are accountable for their actions and that complaints made about them are independently investigated.
“Rachel brings a wealth of experience and expert knowledge of financial services regulation to this role. I am confident that she will provide robust and independent scrutiny of the way the financial services regulators have carried out their roles.”
Incoming Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner, Rachel Kent, said:
“I am pleased to have been appointed to this important role which provides critical independent oversight of how the financial services regulators carry out, or fail to carry out, their functions.
“The financial services regulators have a significant impact on millions of consumers and firms and it is important that they are subject to effective scrutiny. I look forward to working with the regulators to ensure that complaints are handled efficiently and that there is transparency around how they operate”
Rachel is currently a partner in the financial services regulatory team at law firm Hogan Lovells.
In March 2023, Rachel was appointed to chair the independent Investment Research Review launched by the government, a review into the UK’s research and investment landscape. Rachel also acted as Vice-Chair of the Policy and Regulation chapter of Ron Kalifa’s FinTech Strategic Review.
She has also acted as the General Counsel at the UK Infrastructure Bank and is an Advisory Board Member for HM Treasury’s Socio-Economic Mobility Taskforce and HM Treasury’s Expert Trade Advisory Group