The Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC) has a new director of skills development - Sarah Thwaites.

Currently manager of industry training at the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Thwaites will take up her new role in August. It is a newly created position, which the FSSC said follows publication of Lord Leitch's Skills Review which emphasised the need for employers to be the driving force for change in the UK's skills agenda.

FSSC Chief Executive Teresa Sayers said: “Sarah’s role will enable us to take the work of the FSSC’s educational team into business development and into the marketplace. She will enable the FSSC to develop a range of industry solutions that equip firms as they work to attain and maintain competence – in a regulated or non-regulated environment. Sarah’s considerable experience in this field, working with the industry regulator, will be invaluable.”

Thwaites, who will take up her new role in August, was responsible for the development and implementation of the FSA's training and competence requirements. She was also responsible for training the industry on the FSA's rules through workshops, conferences and distance learning materials.