The insolvency profession today announced the appointment of Graham Kentfield as the first chairman of the newly-formed Insolvency Practices Council which will manage its ethical and professional standards.
The long-awaited appointment, which was due to be announced last month, marks the biggest step towards making the council a working reality as the chairman will now be tasked with appointing a number of lay individuals who will form the majority membership of the council.
Kentfield was until his recent retirement chief cashier and deputy director at the Bank of England and his appointment has been welcomed as a positive step by other members of the Ten Years On working party which produced the original concept for an IPC in February.
ACCA director Anthony Booth said: ‘The credibility of this type of organisation is dependent on getting good people to lead them in the first instance and anyone that has met Kentfield thinks that he has sufficient stature to make sure that the IPC gets up and running.’
Kentfield similarly spoke with enthusiasm at the move. He said: ‘I am very pleased to accept this appointment. The idea of an Insolvency Practices Council is an imaginative one and my task is now to ensure that the Council becomes an effective body in which the public, the profession and indeed all concerned in insolvency can have confidence.
‘The next step is to select the other five lay members of the Council and the three representatives of the profession. I look forward to having the Council in place early next year.’
The announcement was made on behalf of IPR Services – a company limited by guarantee that was created to become the launch vehicle for the IPC.
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