Kevin Brennan said:
"I am pleased to announce the reappointment of John Fingleton as the Chief Executive of the Office of Fair Trading.
“Effective competition and consumer protection are especially important as we move out of the downturn and John’s knowledge and breadth of experience means that he is the ideal person to act as a strong and rigorous representative for British consumers.”
John Fingleton said:
"The OFT plays a crucial role in making markets work well for consumers, and the current economic downturn emphasises the need for a strong and effective consumer and competition agency. I am very proud of what we have achieved in the last four years and am honoured to be re-appointed. I look forward to working with the OFT board and all our staff to meet the challenges of the next few years and to achieve our vision of competitive markets working well for consumers, whilst helping to drive growth for the UK economy.”
Dr Fingleton holds degrees in economics from the Universities of Dublin and Oxford, and completed his doctorate at Nuffield College Oxford. He has worked as an academic economist at the Financial Markets Group at the London School of Economics, and at Trinity College Dublin.
In 2000, he was appointed full time Chairperson at the Irish Competition Authority, where he oversaw the implementation of the 2002 Competition Act. In this position, he also sat on Ireland's National Competitiveness Council.
In 2005, he was appointed Chief Executive at the Office of Fair Trading in the UK. In that role, he has overseen a range of consumer and competition enforcement activity including actions on bank overdraft charges and on price-fixing in various sectors
Dr Fingleton is Chair of the Steering Group of the International Competition Network and sits on the board of a number of academic journals.
Notes for editors
1. John Fingleton was appointed Chief Executive of the Office of Fair Trading on 30th September 2005. His original term of appointment will end on 30 September 2010. The re-appointment is for a further period of five years from 1 October 2010 until 30th September 2015.
2.The original recruitment of the Chief Executive was launched with advertisements in national newspapers, and applications were considered by procedures based on Office of Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) rules for "upper tier bodies", although not regulated by OCPA at that time.
3. His current salary for this post is £272,497.
4. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. John Fingleton has not been politically active and does not hold any other public appointments.
5. OFT's overall mission is to make markets work well for UK consumers and the British economy. This has three central elements;
* Empowering consumers and building their confidence in markets and the market process, by encouraging business to compete fairly and transparently, treating customers well. It uses guidance, advocacy, enforcement against fraudulent and misleading behaviour, and market wide studies and investigations.
* Ensuring vigorous competition that makes firms more efficient and competitively priced, by prosecuting price-fixing cartels, preventing anticompetitive mergers and abuse of dominance, market wide studies and investigations, and advocacy campaigns aimed at business
* Supporting government to remove and not to introduce disproportionate restrictions on competition.
6. Further details of the organisation and work of the OFT can be found at http://www.oft.gov.uk.
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