FSA hires former Publicis marketer as comms chief
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has drafted in former Publicis marketer Zitah McMillan to oversee external and internal communications as the City watchdog prepares to put customer experience at the centre of retail banking regulation.
McMillan will work on achieving the Treasury’s stated aim of understanding the needs of customers when developing and enforcing retail banking regulation and better communicating changes that are designed to protect against mis-selling and misleading promotions.
Social media, roadshows, panels and focus groups will also be used more extensively.
Changes follow Chancellor George Osborne’s announcement last year that the FSA will be replaced by two bodies, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), by January 2013. FSA staff are expected to transfer over.
In a mission statement published earlier this year, it was said the FCA will be “committed to a better understanding of consumer behaviour, consumer needs and consumer experiences” by “building the consumer perspective into all its work”.
McMillan joins from the Department for Work and Pensions where she was acting director of communications. Prior to the DWP she was marketing director and brand director at Publicis.
FSA chief executive Hector Sants, who McMillan will report directly to, says: “Zitah’s broad communications experience will bring considerable strength to the organisation as we take forward these [changes to the regulatory framework] priorities…..”.
