The Investment Association (IA) is appointing former AIFA director general Chris Cummings as chief executive, filling the vacancy created following the controversial departure of Daniel Godfrey last October.
Cummings joins the UK investment industry’s trade association from TheCityUK where he is the founding chief executive.
The decision to appoint Cummings has been made unanimously by the IA’s Board, which includes representatives of 18 British investment managers. He succeeds Guy Sears, who has served for the past five months as interim chief executive during the search process. He is expected to join by the end of the third quarter of 2016. Godfrey left the role amid media reports that some asset manager members of the IA were unhappy with the pace of transparency reforms he was seeking to impose.
After spending 7 years as director general at AIFA, the trade body for financial advisers, Cummings launched TheCityUK in June 2010 to champion the UK’s financial and professional services industry.
IA chair Helena Morrissey says: “I am delighted we have secured a chief executive of Chris’s calibre to take the Investment Association forward. Chris has years of experience helping businesses to deliver the best outcomes for their customers.
“Under Chris’s leadership the IA will continue to work with all our stakeholders to serve our members and shape the investment industry to meet the needs of savers.
“The Board would like to thank Guy Sears for his work and achievements as Interim Chief Executive, including the launch of the Productivity Action Plan to boost the British economy and a major pledge to develop a new generation of Disclosure Codes.”
Cummings says: “I believe the UK’s asset management industry has the opportunity to adopt a greater role in society, generating wealth and lifelong financial well-being for millions of people and providing stable long-term financing to help British businesses to grow.”