By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
An executive at the City watchdog who left in the wake of a damning report about its handling of price-sensitive information has taken a top role at one of the world's biggest payday lenders.
Sky News can reveal that Zitah McMillan, who stepped down as the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) communications and international director in December, has joined DFC Global Corp, whose array of financial services operations include The Money Shop, a prominent UK lender.
The emergence of her appointment as DFC Global's international chief executive, which was announced internally to staff last month but not otherwise made public, comes on the same day that the FCA issued a further rebuke to the payday lending industry.
The regulator said that "too many firms have been failing to meet the requirements to treat customers in arrears fairly" and exposed "unacceptable practices from many lenders, including failures to recognise customers in financial difficulty, failure to direct people to free debt advice and firms offering inflexible repayment options".
A former civil servant at the Department for Work and Pensions, Ms McMillan's role excludes DFC Global's operations in the UK, US and Canada, according to the company, encompassing its activities in markets including Finland, Poland and Spain.
It is unclear whether the former FCA executive would have had to serve a period of purdah prior to taking up her new position, although it is unlikely given that her new remit does not include the UK.
Nonetheless, there is likely to be some unease that such a senior executive from the City watchdog has taken up a prominent role in an industry which has been the subject of sustained criticism and sanctions in recent years.
Last July, the FCA agreed with Dollar Financial UK - DFC Global's corporate entity in the UK - that it should refund a total of £700,000 to customers after it was found to have been approving loans for sums which the company's lending criteria would not normally allow
Dollar operates in the UK under brands including Payday UK, Payday Express, The Money Shop and Ladder Loans.
Dollar is the UK's second largest payday lender and the FCA said last summer that it had around a 24% share of the payday market.
However, in January it emerged that the company was examining plans to close as many as 40% of its 500 jobs as it attempted to adjust to new clampdowns on lending charges.
Wonga, Dollar Financial UK's larger rival, has also announced restructuring plans in recent weeks, with hundreds of UK jobs at risk.
Ms McMillan's departure from the FCA was ostensibly part of a restructuring which the regulator insisted was unconnected to an independent report which criticised its handling of information relating to a review of parts of the pensions market.
Simon Davis, a senior City lawyer, said the FCA's approach to disclosing the information had been "high risk, poorly supervised and inadequately controlled.
"When it went wrong, the FCA's reaction was seriously inadequate and fell short of the standards expected of those it regulates."
Clive Adamson, the FCA's director of supervision, also left the regulator and is poised to take on a board role at Prudential's UK subsidiary, City AM reported this week.
Ms McMillan and Mr Adamson were among four FCA executives who forfeited their bonuses for last year as a consequence of the debacle.
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