UK Financial Intelligence Chief Now Director Of Payments And Digital Assets

The FAC has a new director of a British intelligence agency. (photo: twitter @TheFCA)

JAKARTA - Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recruited nearly 500 additional staff members this year. This effort is part of its new three-year strategy. Among the new hires are six directors, whose appointments were announced on July 5. Two of them have a police background.

This is a new position that will oversee e-money, payments and crypto asset markets and related policy development. Matthew Long was appointed to the post, he moved from the National Crime Agency, where he is now director of the National Economic Crime Command.

Long also heads the UK's Financial Intelligence Unit. He started his career as a detective with the Kent Police and earned a PhD in risk management. Long will begin his new role in October.

In September, Karen Baxter will support FCA enforcement and market surveillance activities when she joins FCA as director of strategy, policy, international and intelligence. He is a commander and national coordinator for economic crime with the City of London Police. He is also a board member of the Office of Communications for Northern Ireland.

Two interim directors will receive permanent appointments, and new directors of consumer finance and wholesale purchasing have also been appointed. The agency's new strategy seeks to be more innovative, assertive and adaptive, and to proactively shape the digitization of financial services through the development of our regulatory approach to digital markets.

In the digital market, as reported by Cointelegraph, the strategy addresses the competition among major digital companies and the risks and benefits that Big Tech will bring to the sector. It will examine the role of artificial intelligence in finance and will lead an investigation "informed by behavioral economics to test the journey of digital consumers."

Digital crime through crypto assets is now on the rise and the UK government, feels the need to place competent people in the intelligence field to oversee it.