Wheatley was removed from his role as chief executive at the city watchdog by George Osborne last week, after the chancellor decided not to renew his contract in search of “different leadership” at the regulator.
According to The Telegraph, speaking at his last annual public meeting at the regulator this morning, Wheatley said: “Frankly, I am disappointed to be moving on, and do so with a sense of unfinished business.”
However, he added that he was proud to have been able to “lead and develop the FCA into a world-class regulator” and highlighted his efforts to promote innovation in the financial sector.
From 12 September, Wheatley will be replaced on an interim basis by head of supervision Tracey McDermott while the search for a permanent chief executive takes place.
On the news of Wheatley’s departure, John Griffith-Jones, chairman of the FCA, praised Wheatley’s work in leading the FCA over the past four years.
“We owe him a lot and I and my Board would like to thank him for his great efforts in setting up the organisation and for the contribution he has made to putting conduct so firmly at the top of the financial services agenda,” he said. “I am pleased that we will continue to benefit from his wisdom and expertise over the next few months.”
The FCA has been responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) since April 2013.
