Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee

Role of the Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee

The Regulatory Standards and Codes Committee (the ‘Committee’) remit entails high quality, effective and proportionate standards, codes and guidance for corporate governance, corporate reporting, stewardship, audit and assurance, and actuarial work.

The Committee comprises of the Chair of the Committee and other non-executive Directors of the FRC. In addition, the Committee will be assisted by Senior Advisors, who will provide technical expertise and advice where requested, but will not be involved in taking decisions.

Terms of Reference
Name	Terms of Reference
Publication date	8 June 2023
Notes	The responsibilities of the Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee are set out in the Committee's Terms of Reference.
Format	PDF, 107.1 KB
Name	General Committee Terms
Publication date	8 June 2023
Notes	The Regulatory Standards & Codes Committee also adheres to the General Committee Terms.
Format	PDF, 134.1 KB

Codes Committee Members

Hannah Nixon

Chair

Appointed 1 September 2021

Hannah has widespread experience in economic regulation across a range of industries. She brings significant experience of developing, implementing and enforcing regulatory regimes and influencing public policy. She was the first CEO of the Payment Systems Regulator, the economic regulator of the UK’s £80tn payments industry, responsible for driving competition and innovation in the interests of consumers. She was also a senior partner at Ofgem, where she had responsibility for the networks division.
Hannah is currently Chair of the Single Source Regulations Office, the UK regulator for non-competitive defence procurement, and is also a non-executive director of National Grid Electricity Systems Operator and Thames Water.
Clare Thompson

Member

Appointed 1 April 2022

Clare is a non-executive director and Chair of the Audit Committee at M&G plc. She is also a former Senior Independent Director and chair of the Audit Committee at Bupa. She retired from PwC in 2011 having been a partner for 23 years. At PwC she was audit/lead partner on major financial services groups and served UK Insurance leader and a member of the UK Assurance executive team.
Since leaving PwC she has built a portfolio of non-executive roles and has served as Chair of the Audit Committee of Bupa’s UK insurance business, a non-executive director of Direct Line Insurance Group plc, a non-executive director of Retail Charity Bonds plc, as Chair of the Audit Committee of Miller Insurance Services LLP and as Treasurer of the Disasters Emergency Committee.
She is a member of the ICAEW.
Sir Jan du Plessis

Member

Appointed 12 September 2023

Sir Jan has served as Chair of various public companies over the last 18 years: BT Group plc (2017 to 2021); Rio Tinto plc (2009 to 2018); SABMiller plc (2014 to 2016); RHM plc (2005 to 2007); and British American Tobacco plc (2004 to 2009). These roles have given him extensive experience in leadership and governance of some major public companies. He has also had multiple interactions with the institutional investment community and gained meaningful insight into the challenges facing the audit services sector.
Sir Jan has also served as non-executive director of Marks and Spencer Group plc and Lloyds Banking Group plc. From 1988 to 2004 he was CFO of Richemont.
Fiona Ellard

Senior Advisor

Fiona is a Senior Adviser at The Investor Forum and a consultant on governance training at the International Corporate Governance Network. Fiona has over 35 years of investment and corporate governance experience, having worked at BlackRock for 17 years, where she was COO of the BlackRock Investment Institute, Deputy Chair of the Americas Investment Stewardship Committee and previously had senior product strategist roles in the Emerging Markets and UK Equity teams. Fiona began her career at UBS Asset Management where she was a UK equity portfolio manager.
Fiona is a fellow of the Chartered Securities Institute.
Richard Lawrence

Senior Advisor

Appointed 1 January 2021.

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.
Howard Walpole

Senior Advisor

Appointed 1 January 2023.

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.
Mark Holmes

Observer - DBT
Clare Cole

Observer - FCA