Lending Standards Board appoints trio of Non-Executive Directors

The Lending Standards Board (LSB) has announced a trio of appointments which will add a wealth of policy and governance expertise to its board with the Non-Executive Director appointments of broadcaster Iain Dale, economic authority Paul Johnson CBE and charity sector leader Caron Bradshaw OBE.

The three new appointments will replace Liz Barclay and Graham Peacop, who have stepped down as LSB Non-Executive Directors at the end of their terms. The new board members join five other financial services experts on the LSB Board, including entrepreneur and LSB chair Ken Scott, fintech investor and advisor Mark Thompson, former head of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme Mark Neale, tech leader Debbie Forster MBE, and LSB chief executive Emma Lovell.

As a leading political commentator and author, Iain Dale has presented primetime shows on LBC Radio since 2010, and hosts a series of popular podcasts including For the Many, a political show co-hosted by former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. He is a contributor across the media with regular appearances in the Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, BBC Newsnight, and on Good Morning Britain.

Paul Johnson CBE serves as director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the UK’s leading economic research institute. He writes a fortnightly column for the Times and is a visiting professor in the UCL Policy Lab. For ten years, Paul was a member of the UK Climate Change Committee and has also served on the council of the Royal Economic Society.

Caron Bradshaw OBE has led Charity Finance Group (CFG) as Chief Executive Officer since 2010, having previously worked as Head of the Charity and Voluntary Sector at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). A trained Barrister, Caron has a wide array of experience across charity policy and professional ethics.

Ken Scott, Chair of the LSB said “We’re excited to welcome three outstanding individuals to the LSB’s Board. Their expertise in finance, consumer rights, policy, and governance will be instrumental as we continue to drive financial institutions to deliver better customer outcomes across the board. Our innovative Standards and agile approach to independent regulation enable us to address emerging customer harms and drive better outcomes. We’re committed to expanding our efforts and ensuring regulation keeps pace with the UK’s innovative financial services sector. This will allow even more customers to benefit from the protections our Standards provide.

“My thanks go to Liz and Graham for their fantastic contributions to our Board over the past few years.”

The LSB’s Standards and industry codes cover 90% of UK personal lending and £120bn of lending to SMEs. The watchdog also provides the only sector-wide framework of protections for customers against authorised push payment fraud.