Former Virgin Money boss and prominent businesswoman Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia has been announced as the Government’s pick to chair the UK’s auditing watchdog.
Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle chose her as the preferred candidate for chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which regulates auditing and accountancy firms.
If confirmed, she would succeed Sir Jan du Plessis who steps down at the end of September.
Dame Jayne-Anne was the chief executive of Virgin Money from 2007 until 2018 where she led the acquisition of Northern Rock after it was nationalised during the financial crisis.
She briefly headed up Salesforce in 2019 before stepping down to focus on growing Snoop, a budgeting app founded by the businesswoman and sold to specialist bank Vanquis in 2023.
She also holds a series of non-executive roles including within HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tate and energy supplier Ovo.
Mr Kyle said Dame Jayne-Anne was “perfectly placed to lead the FRC at this important time and I look forward to working with her to boost confidence in British businesses”.
Dame Jayne-Anne said she was “honoured to be appointed chair of the FRC at such an important time for the organisation and for the UK economy”.
The FRC has led major investigations in recent years such as into EY’s auditing of collapsed high street travel agent Thomas Cook, and KPMG’s auditing of collapsed outsourcing firm Carillion.
It is currently probing PwC over its auditing of WH Smith in the wake of a damaging accounting scandal in the retailer’s US division.
The appointment also comes after the Government ditched plans in January to establish a new regulator, the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority, which was set to replace the FRC and have greater powers to tackle poor financial reporting.
But the FRC says it has transformed significantly under the outgoing chair and become a more focused, transparent and proportionate regulator.
Dame Jayne-Anne’s appointment will be scrutinised at a Business and Trade Committee session on Tuesday.