The CEO of the UK’s new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says the forthcoming “twin peaks” model will provide more resources for protecting customers and policing institutions.

Martin Wheatley, currently the MD of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), told a gathering in London last week the split represents “an opportunity for the regulator and firms to start afresh, and work in partnership”.

“We see it as the role of the regulator to not only make the relevant markets work well but also to help firms get back to putting their customers at the heart of how they do business,” Mr Wheatley said.

The FSA will be split into two bodies by the end of next year under plans first announced in June 2010.

The Prudential Regulation Authority will focus on the stability of the financial system while the FCA will focus on the activities of firms in the retail and wholesale banking sectors.