Senior Decision Makers panel appointments

The Commission maintains a panel of ‘Senior Decision Makers’ who determine the outcome of the Commission’s enforcement cases. 

A Senior Decision Maker, sitting alone, hears those cases involving findings of serious regulatory shortcomings against a licensee and/or individual directors and where those findings are contested. As part of the process, Senior Decision Makers are also required to determine the penalties that are to be imposed which will include the level of any financial penalty to be imposed, any period of prohibition from practising in the industry and the contents of any public statement that is issued by the Commission. More information about the decision making process, including an explanatory note, can be found on the Commission’s website.  

Following a rigorous recruitment process, the Commission has made four new appointments to its panel. The new appointments are: 

• Mr Raymond Cox KC 

• Mr Jonathan Kinnear KC  

• Mr Thomas Munby KC 

• Mr Andrew Webster KC 

The Commission’s Chairman, John Aspden, said: “These latest appointments were made following an extensive and open recruitment process. We were delighted with the very high calibre of all of the candidates who applied to be included on the panel. The appointments bring the number of Senior Decision Makers on the panel, chaired by Ms Leigh-Ann Mulcahy KC, to 12.” 

The Commission’s Director General, William Mason, commented: “The new appointments do not reflect an increase in the Commission’s enforcement activity which has, in terms of the number of ongoing cases, actually reduced slightly in the last couple of years perhaps reflecting generally high industry standards. Rather our appointments reflect the Commission’s desire to increase the probability of a Senior Decision Maker (who generally works full time in private practice and is often pre-committed several months in advance to representing private clients) being available to ensure that justice can continue to be administered in a timely fashion.”