Chair

Financial Ombudsman Service

Chair

Remuneration: £75,000 per annum; Time commitment: c2 days per week

Location: London

Join us as Chair and play a pivotal role in steering our ambitious journey forward.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free and impartial service that aims to resolve customer complaints in an efficient and effective way. We sit at the heart of the financial services ecosystem and financial regulatory family and we play a vital role for consumers to get redress when things go wrong. We set the standard for modern, efficient, and accessible alternative dispute resolution and every year we resolve thousands of disputes between consumers or small businesses and their financial service providers. We also use and share our insight with key stakeholders across the financial services sector and bodies such as the FCA and HM Treasury in order to improve the whole financial services ecosystem. We also have a role to ensure we work with partners to create a surer climate for investment by delivering on our core purpose.

The government, in support of its Growth Mission, has asked the country's regulators to remove barriers to economic growth and create a regulatory environment that boosts investment, innovation and opportunity across the United Kingdom. Financial services is a critical part of this growth. Now is an exciting and critical time to join the Financial Ombudsman Service and lead our journey as we drive forward significant organisational reform and technology transformation. As Chair, you will help define our contribution to the future of consumer redress and modernise our service, using new technology to drive efficiency and deliver for customers.

The Chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service will provide strategic leadership and oversee the performance of the Board. Your responsibilities will include fostering a cohesive Board culture, contributing to strategy development, and ensuring robust governance structures. You will also manage stakeholder engagement and represent the Ombudsman to the FCA, wider financial regulatory family, government, industry and consumer groups. You will support and challenge the executive team, and maintain a high-performing organisational culture. We welcome interest from applicants with expert, high-level leadership experience as a Non-Executive Director, or with experience of leading and chairing at Board level, in an organisation of comparable size and complexity to the Ombudsman.

You will bring an informed understanding of consumer or regulatory affairs, law/policy development and will be able to evidence sound business acumen and excellent communication skills. Strong personal values and principles, which align with those of the Financial Ombudsman Service, and a firm commitment to promoting diversity in the widest sense will underpin the skills and attributes needed for this role.

If you are a visionary leader with a passion for fairness and excellence, we invite you to apply for this exciting opportunity and help us shape a fairer financial future.

This campaign is being supported by our advising consultants, GatenbySanderson. For further details on this appointment and how to apply, please click on Apply. For a confidential conversation about this Chair appointment, please contact Duncan Ewart:

Closing date for applications: 24th March 2025 at noon.

The appointment of the new Chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service will be made by the FCA, with the approval of HM Treasury.