StepChange Debt Charity has announced that John Griffith-Jones is now chairing the charity, following the resignation of Sir Hector Sants last October.

Sants quit following his appointment as the chair of the new Single Financial Guidance Body.

Chris Stern has been acting as interim chair of StepChange Debt Charity for the past three months.

Griffith-Jones (pictured) was chair of the Financial Conduct Authority from 2013 to 2018, and of its subsidiary, the Payment Systems Regulator. During this period the FCA took on responsibility for regulating consumer credit and carried out significant policy and supervisory interventions in this and related areas.

Before this, he worked at KPMG from 1975 to 2012, becoming CEO and subsequently chairman and senior partner of KPMG in the UK. He is vice chairman of the National Numeracy Trust, and also holds a number of other voluntary roles.

Stern said: “We are delighted to welcome John to the role of chair, and we know StepChange will benefit hugely from his wealth of experience and develop further under his guidance.

“His insight will be invaluable as we navigate the forthcoming period of growth in the debt advice sector generally, and the charity specifically, with our goal to double the number of people we help in four years.”

Griffith-Jones added: “Debt advice has matured into a fully established sector within the wider financial landscape, with its own regulatory framework and its own challenges – notably the increasing demand for services.

“StepChange Debt Charity is well-placed to bring both scale and innovation to deliver the high quality advice that is so desperately needed both now and in the future. I am greatly looking forward to helping shape and develop the charity’s vital role, and thank Sir Hector Sants and Chris Stern for their excellent work, on which I now hope to build with the support of a strong trustee and executive team.”