PSR names David Geale as new interim managing director after Chris Hemsley steps down
The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has announced that its managing director of the last five years, Chris Hemsley, is set to stand down from the position on 7 June, with David Geale, former director of retail banking at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), set to take over as interim managing director.
PSR appoints former FCA head David Geale as interim MD
Hemsley is leaving the regulator to join Fingleton, a London-based strategic regulatory advisory firm, as a director later this year.
The PSR says that after the UK general election, which is scheduled for 4 July 2024, it will commence the recruitment process for a new permanent managing director, with Geale’s interim position expected to last nine months.
Geale joins the PSR after 11 years at the FCA and already has some insight into the regulator’s inner workings thanks to serving as a non-executive director on the PSR board since February 2020.
Commenting on Geale’s appointment, Aidene Walsh, chair of the PSR, states that his “time on the PSR board along with his leadership and wealth of experience in both payments and retail banking in the FCA leaves him very well placed to lead the PSR in its work across the payments ecosystem”.
“We will continue to deliver the important outcomes outlined in our annual plan, our mid-year strategy review and importantly on our horizon scanning at a time of great change in payments both domestically and internationally,” Walsh adds.
