John Fingleton (economist)

John Fingleton (born 21 September 1965) is an Irish economist and former CEO of the Office of Fair Trading.

John Fingleton, Chief Executive, Office of Fair Trading (far right) signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Xu Xianping, Vice Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission in London, 10 January 2011.

Early life and career

Fingleton was born in September 1965,[1] he studied economics at Trinity College Dublin and Nuffield College Oxford, writing his PhD under supervision from James Mirrlees and graduating with a DPhil in 1991.

After graduating from Oxford, Fingleton taught economics at the London School of Economics and Trinity College Dublin. While an academic at TCD, John Fingleton advocated deregulation of the Irish taxi market[2] and a relaxation of restrictive licensing laws in alcohol retail.[3] In 2000, Fingleton was appointed chairman of the Irish Competition Authority - where he made a number of prominent hires including former FTC Commissioner Terry Calvani. Fingleton was also responsible for managing the introduction of the Irish Competition Act 2002 into law.[4]

Office of Fair Trading

In 2005, Fingleton was appointed Chief Executive of the Office of Fair Trading.[5] While at the OfT, he led investigations into bank overdraft fees,[6] competition between supermarkets,[7] credit cards,[8] and the PPI market,[9] as well as an investigation into UK airports that led to the breakup of BAA.[10] Fingleton was criticised during his tenure for his high salary, which at £275,000 made him the second-highest paid civil servant in the UK, after the Governor of the Bank of England.[11]

Fingleton left the OfT in 2012, just before it and the Competition Commission were merged to form the new Competition and Markets Authority. He was succeeded by Clive Maxwell.[12]

Later career

Fingleton now runs a company advising businesses with competition and regulation problems. In 2015 he called for BT and Openreach to be split up to increase competition in the broadband market.[13] In 2018 he wrote a report attacking the government’s plans to expand the national security test in mergers, which he warned would be damaging to the UK economy.[14]

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References
  1. "PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  2. Mulqueen, Eibhir. "Study recommends taxi market deregulation". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  3. Fitzgerald, Garret. "Drinkers pay the price of limiting pub licences". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  4. "Authority's lost Fingers". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  5. Martinson, Jane (2006-03-24). "The Jane Martinson interview: John Fingleton". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  6. "Banks face OFT threat on fees for overdrafts". Financial Times. 2006-04-05. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  7. "UK supermarkets face new competition probe". Financial Times. 9 Mar 2006.
  8. "House of Lords rejects credit cards appeal". 2007-11-01.
  9. "OFT calls for competition inquiry into PPI market". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  10. "OFT launches probe into UK airports market". Financial Times.
  11. "Civil service union chief defends wages higher than PM". Evening Standard. 2010-06-01. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
  12. Russell, Jonathan (2012-02-23). "OFT chief John Fingleton quits". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  13. Ahmed, Kamal (2015-07-16). "Is it time to break up BT?". Retrieved 2019-10-19.
  14. "Radical' shake-up to takeover rules risks damaging UK economy". Financial Times. Retrieved 2019-10-19.
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