FRC's Senior Advisors
Role of the FRC's Senior Advisors
The Executive and the Board Committees are assisted by individual Senior Advisors who are subject matter experts. The Senior Advisors work with the Executive in either the Enforcement, Supervision or Regulatory Standards divisions. They provide advice, feedback and mentoring and act as sounding boards for ongoing issues and topics. Senior Advisors in the Regulatory Standards Division also attend the Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee as non-voting members.
Senior Advisors
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Paul Cox
Regulatory Standards Division (Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee)
Paul is former Head of Investment Development at The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and equity fund manager at Kleinwort Benson and RCM Global Investors. Previously, Paul has provided pension and investment expertise to the Department for Work and Pensions; Personal Accounts Delivery Authority; Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Ministry of Justice; European Commission; and European Insurance and Occupational Pension Fund Authority (EIOPA). Paul is a Chartered Wealth Manager and has a PhD in finance.
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Richard Lawrence
Regulatory Standards Division (Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee)
Richard is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, having qualified with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is currently the Head of Accounting & Valuation Policy at The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (RBS), a role he has held since 2017. He has held a number of senior finance roles within RBS, and before that ABN AMRO NV, going back to 2003. Richard sits on a number of industry-focused committees at UK Finance and the ICAEW.
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Howard Walpole
Regulatory Standards Division (Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee)
Howard is an actuary with a long-standing career in the insurance industry including Chief Risk Officer, Financial Risk Director, Solvency II Director and Chief Actuary roles which have covered strategic, operational, regulatory and climate related matters as well as M&A activities. Most recently, he spent over 11 years within the Insurance division of Lloyds Banking Group but began his career as a consultant within Tillinghast (Willis Towers Watson – now WTW) and has worked internationally.
In addition to Board and Executive experience of a “Category 1” insurer, Howard has also served on the Audit and Risk Committee of his local council.
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John Hitchins
Supervision Division (Supervision Committee)
John retired from PwC in 2014 after 26 years as a partner. Throughout his PwC career, John specialised in bank auditing and advisory services and was PwC’s banking industry leader from 2001-10. From 2010 to his retirement, he led the PwC network’s global IFRS technical group. He is currently Chair of the Audit Committee at Aldermore Group PLC and a non-executive director at St James's Place PLC. John served as a member of the FCA Practitioner and Markets Practitioner Panels from 2012-14. He has served as Chairman of the Institute’ of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ Banking Committee and as a Board member of the Institute’s Financial Services Faculty and a member of the Institute’s Business Law Committee.
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Andrew Vials
Supervision Division (Supervision Committee)
Andrew was a partner at KPMG for 28 years. He was lead audit partner for clients in both the commercial and financial services sectors. From 2004 he headed the firm's Department for Professional Practice providing advice on a wide range of financial and corporate reporting issues. During that time, he was a member of the IASB's IFRS Interpretations Committee.
In 2014 then Andrew joined Grant Thornton as Head of National Assurance Services, the firm's centre of excellence for corporate reporting and audit matters, leaving in 2016.
Andrew was previously a member of the Corporate Reporting Review Committee.
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Anne Whitaker
Supervision and Enforcement Divisions (Conduct and Supervision Committees))
Anne Whitaker is a former EY Audit partner with a portfolio of non-Executive and charity roles, including independent NED and Audit Committee Chair at Markel International Insurance Company Ltd and Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee at Hitachi Capital (UK) plc. As the former Head of Audit and Risk Partner for EY’s UK Financial Services Practice, Anne specialised in asset management audits, including funds and investment trusts as well as other financial services. Some of Anne’s previous non-Executive roles include NED and Audit Committee Chair at Barts Health NHS Trust and Chair of the Audit and Risk Assessment Committee of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). She has also previously volunteered as an advisor for MicroVentures (a microfinance charity operating in Malawi).
Anne was previously Chair of the Audit Quality Review Committee and a member of the Conduct and Supervision Committees until March 2022.
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Sean Collins
Enforcement Division (Conduct Committee)
Sean joined Peat, Marwick Mitchell & Co (now KPMG) in 1972 beginning a career which would encompass audit, taxation, financial investigations and consulting.
He became a partner on his transfer to the Malaysian practice in 1985, where he led the financial services practice as well as the technical advisory department. On his return to London, he assumed responsibility for the firm's leasing practice and then the telecommunications and media practice, for which he was global leader for more than 10 years. After a second period in Asia, directing the Asia-Pacific practice from 2009 to 2012 from Singapore, he retired from KPMG. For over three years he was the Senior Independent Director and Audit Committee Chairman of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc. He is currently the Audit Committee Chairman for Jersey Telecom, Crown Representative at the Cabinet Office, a Member of Council of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs and Deputy Chairman for Arthritis Research UK.
Sean was previously a member of the Case Management Committee and a member of the Conduct and Supervision Committees until March 2022.
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Richard Murray
Enforcement Division (Conduct Committee)
Richard is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Richard was an Audit and Assurance partner for 27 years in the London office of Ernst & Young (now EY), until his retirement in 2011. He specialised principally in the audit of multinationals, both UK and US Listed, as well as many domestic UK Listed companies. In addition, he undertook several Investigative and Corporate Advisory assignments.
At EY, Richard acted for a wide range of commercial and industrial enterprises mainly within the Extractive (Mining and Oil & Gas), Leisure (Tourism and Airlines) and Hospitality (Hotels, Pubs and Restaurants) sectors.
Folowing his retirement from EY, Richard served for 3 years as a Non Executive Director and Audit Committee Chairman of JKX Oil & Gas Plc, before joining the FRC in October 2016, initially as a member of the Case Management Committee within the Enforcement Division.