The FSA has announced the appointment of Julian Adams as the director of the FSA’s retail firms division (RFD).

RFD supervises around 900 firms operating in the retail market, including fund managers, building societies and smaller banks, medium sized insurance companies and intermediaries.

Adams first joined the FSA in 1998 from the Bank of England. He has held a variety of roles within the organisation, including head of wholesale insurance firms. He currently heads up the department that supervises the major retail UK banks where he has played a key role in the response to the financial crisis and the recapitalisation of the banking sector. He was also responsible for the implementation of the supervisory enhancement programme (SEP) within his department.

He is a representative on the international Senior Supervisors’ Group (SSG) and the Basel Committee Standards Implementation Group.

Jon Pain, FSA retail managing director, said: “Julian has been outstanding in dealing with some of the issues that the banking sector has faced in the last couple of years and has played a key role in implementing our more intensive supervision model for major firms. He will be a valuable asset to my senior leadership team.””