UK- The Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (Opra) has appointed Tony Hobman as its new chief executive. He replaces Caroline Instance who has left to become chief executive of the Faculty and the Institute of Actuaries and secretary general of the Institute of Actuaries.

Hobman has held a number of senior appointments in private and public sector organisations and within the financial services industry. He spent 20 years with Barclays Bank in various marketing, project management, and customer service roles.

During the late 1990s, he spent four years at ProShare, the not-for-profit organisation that supports private investors and advises companies on investor communications and employee share ownership, and ended up as CEO in 1999.

Opra was set up by Parliament under the Pensions Act 1995 to help ensure occupational schemes are run properly. It wields numerous statutory powers and penalties including: disqualifying pension scheme trustees, appointing new trustees to pension schemes in difficulty and authorising criminal prosecutions.