Consumer Advisory Board
Fairer Finance’s Consumer Advisory Board is an independent group which oversees the work of our organisation, and ensures that we never prioritise our own commercial interests ahead of the interests of consumers.
The Consumer Board meets five times a year and scrutinises Fairer Finance's commercial relationships, research, ratings, campaigning and media commentary. The Chair of the Advisory Board attends Fairer Finance Ltd board meetings as an observer.
A report is published by the Advisory Board once a year. No members of the Consumer Advisory Board are remunerated.
Chris Pond
Chair of the Consumer Advisory Board
Chris Pond is Chair of the Financial Inclusion Commission, of TrustMark and of an asbestos compensation scheme. He is also a trustee of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute and an independent director of MOSL, a market operator in the water sector. Chris was previously an MP and Work and Pensions Minister and has been CEO of two national charities (Gingerbread and the Low Pay Unit). He served as Director of Financial Capability and Head of Consumer Affairs with the Financial Services Authority (forerunner of the FCA) and in that role led the establishment of the Money Advice Service (now the Money and Pensions Service) acting as interim CEO. More recently, Chris has been Chair of the Lending Standards Board and of the Equity Release Council Standards Board, for which he still acts as a consumer adviser, and an independent director with the Current Account Switch Service, part of Pay.UK.
Sue Lewis
Member of the Consumer Advisory Board
Sue is an experienced independent board member and adviser, with a focus on financial services consumer issues, regulation and public policy. Her current roles include lay member of the IFoA’s Regulation Board, and Trustee of StepChange, Surviving Economic Abuse and the FairBanking Foundation.
Walter Merricks OBE
Member of the Consumer Advisory Board
Walter joined the Consumer Advisory Board in January 2023, bringing with him more than 50 years experience in the legal and financial services sectors. He was the inaugural head of the Financial Ombudsman Service between 1999 and 2009. Other roles have included Commissioner for the Gambling Commission, Chair of the independent press regulator Impress and a member of the Civil Aviation Authority’s Consumer Panel. Since 2016, he has been the class representative in a £14bn competition action against Mastercard. He was awarded a CBE in 2007 for services to the financial services industry.
(Photo by Fraser Allan)
Caroline Barr
Member of the Consumer Advisory Board
Caroline Barr has almost 30 years’ experience working in financial services and government. She has worked for Lloyds Bank, been a deputy director in HM Treasury and as a member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel. In recent years, she has built a portfolio of non-executive roles and currently sits on the boards of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association, the Business Banking Resolution Service, and Blackrock Life. She chairs the insurance industry’s Access to Insurance Committee, and BlackRock Life’s Investment Policy Committee. She joined the Consumer Advisory Board in January 2023.
Documentation
Former CAB members
Adrian Coles OBE
Former chair of the Consumer Advisory Board
Adrian Coles OBE was Chair of Fairer Finance's Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) from 2015 to 2020. The CAB was established in August 2015 to scrutinise the business of Fairer Finance, and ensure that all of its work is of benefit to customers of banks and insurers. Adrian has more than 35 years experience in the financial services industry, most prominently as Director-General of the Building Societies Association between 1993 and 2013.
Christine Farnish CBE
Former member of the Consumer Advisory Board
Christine was a member of the Consumer Advisory Board between 2016 and 2020. She has worked at senior level in financial services since 1998 when she was appointed Consumer Director at the Financial Services Authority. She joined the National Association of Pension Funds as chief executive in 2002 and was group managing director of Public Policy at Barclays from 2006 to 2011. She has served on the Boards of the Office of Fair Trading, Advertising Standards Authority, ING Direct and Consumer Focus, which she chaired from 2010 to 2014.
Paul Pester
Former chair of the Consumer Advisory Board
Paul was chair of Fairer Finance's Consumer Advisory Board between 2020 and 2022. He stepped down after being appointed non-executive chair of Tandem Bank. Paul is an experienced Chief Executive with strong consumer, challenger brand and digital credentials.
Otto Thoresen
Former member of the Consumer Advisory Board
Otto was a member of Fairer Finance's Consumer Advisory Board between 2016 and 2022. He has extensive experience in pensions, financial services and consumer issues across a range of private and public sector organisations. He was director general of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) until the end of January 2015 and served on its Board from 2005.
Laurie Edmans CBE
Former Member of the Consumer Advisory Board
Laurie has spent a lifetime in insurance, pensions, investment and related areas. Currently a non-executive director of NOW:Pensions, Commissioner of the Financial Inclusion Commission, and advisory board member of Cardano, the Anglo-Dutch Fiduciary Manager.
A trustee of the Quest School for autistic children for over 15 years, he realised that, whilst autistic children and their parents face stern challenges, there are significantly more facilities available to them than there are in adulthood – especially in entering and thriving in a workplace. Consequently, he joined the ‘Employ Autism’ Development Board established by ‘Ambitious About Autism’ and, as co-chair, is a founder of GAIN, an initiative to improve, radically, employment prospects of neurodiverse people in insurance and related sectors.
A founder director of NEST, of the Pensions Regulator and the Money Advice Service, he chaired Marine and General Mutual Assurance; ABI's pensions and savings committee; Zurich UK’s Independent Governance Committee and the Reach PLC (Mirror and Express newspapers) DC scheme.
Laurie’s executive career included senior executive positions in National Provident Institution, AEGON UK, and CIGNA. A fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and the Pensions Management Institute, he was appointed CBE for services to pensions reform.
Laurie served on Fairer Finance's CAB from 2018 to 2024.