Fiona Le Poidevin, a Guernsey native, has been at KPMG for four years, and will take up the Guernsey Finance post at the end of March. Guernsey Finance promotes the island’s financial services industry.
Le Poidevin is seen as a likely successor to Guernsey Finance’s current chief executive, Peter Niven, who reportedly said last year that the search for his eventual successor had begun.
A Guernsey Finance spokesman said the organisation’s budget had not been increased in order to accommodate the new senior role, but that money was being found by savings in other areas.
In a statement, Niven said it had become increasingly apparent over the last few years "that there would be singificant benefit from both adding to the technical skills available in-house and also having a second in command with the potential to take the helm in the next couple of years".
A qualified chartered accountant, Le Poidevin began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London, eventually becoming a tax consultant providing compliance and advisory services to FTSE 250 to FTSE 500 companies across a range of industries. She returned to Guernsey in 2004 as a tax manager at PWC.
Niven has headed up Guernsey Finance for the last five-and-a-half years. He is a former CEO of the Lloyds TSB Offshore Financial Services Group. In addition to his role at Guernsey Finance, he is a non-executive director of several Guernsey-based fund and captive insurance companies, including the FTSE 250-listed F&C Commercial Property Trust, of which he is chairman.
In a report on Le Poidevin’s appointment on its website, the Guernsey Press & Star said: “while Mr Niven has said there was no set timescale as to when he might be looking to step down, because he has agreed to be as flexible as possible, he has now suggested it could be just a couple of years away.”
