Tories stifling FSA staffing drive - papers

The FSA’s efforts to strengthen its supervisory and enforcement work by recruiting hundreds more staff have been thrown off course by the Conservative party’s plan to disband the regulator, according to the Financial Times.

Since George Osborne, shadow chancellor, said last month he would shift the FSA's core supervisory role to a beefed-up Bank of England, and set up a Consumer Protection Agency to handle the rest of the body's work, the regulator has suffered a crisis of confidence affecting some top staff and potential recruits, according to headhunters, consultants and FSA insiders.

The disruption comes at an unfortunate time for the regulator, which has spent recent months seeking to recruit 280 extra staff in its supervisory division, boosting it by a third, as it gears up to implement the review of regulation published in the spring by the body's chairman, Lord Turner. Full story...

Pearl, the insurer, is believed to have set its sights on Richard Harvey, formerly chief executive at Aviva, as its new chairman, The Independent writes.

Mr Harvey is thought to have been approached by headhunters appointed by Pearl earlier in the summer, with the former Aviva boss leading a shortlist of candidates for the chairmanship of the insurance firm.

"Richard Harvey is the heavyweight candidate with the right experience to help Pearl in this market," said a source. "He is the right candidate to help Pearl take on Clive Cowdery, as the life insurance sector consolidates. Rest assured, Cowdery won't get things his own way."

Mr Harvey, who surprised the City by quitting as chief executive of Aviva in 2007 when he was just 57, is thought to be interested in the Pearl role, but is weighing up a number of other opportunities. After leaving Norwich Union, Mr Harvey worked for an African charity. Full story...