Britain's financial watchdog today announced the departure of its chief executive Hector Sants, who has overseen plans for large-scale reform of the banking sector following the economic crisis.
'The Financial Services Authority today announces that Hector Sants will leave the organisation in the summer of 2010, after three years as chief executive officer,' the watchdog said.
The FSA added that it would announce the process for picking a successor in due course.
The opposition Conservative Party, tipped in the polls to win the next election expected in May, has said it wants to abolish the FSA and hand its banking supervisory powers to the Bank of England, saying the authority failed to spot problems ahead of the financial crisis.
Sants, a highly regarded former investment banker, took over the top job in July 2007, rising from head of the regulator's wholesale and institutional markets division to take the helm.
