AJ Bell has appointed Craig Gentle as a non-executive director, in a directorate change announced through the London Stock Exchange regulatory news service on 2 September 2026. The appointment took effect from 1 September 2026. Gentle will also assume the role of chair of the audit committee, subject to regulatory approval.
The company disclosed the appointment in a statement that also confirmed the arrival of Steve Langan as a non-independent non-executive director with effect from 2 February 2027. AJ Bell said the changes marked the conclusion of recent board succession planning activity. Gentle succeeds Eamonn Flanagan as chair of the audit committee; Flanagan will have served on the board for nine years and, in line with the UK Corporate Governance Code, will not be seeking re-election at the next annual general meeting.
Fiona Clutterbuck, chair of AJ Bell, said she was delighted to welcome both men to the board and looked forward to working with them. She added that the extensive experience of Gentle in financial services businesses, and his background in actuarial reserving, liquidity management, stress testing and balance sheet optimisation, including oversight of capital restructuring, securitisation programmes and funding strategy, would bring an invaluable contribution to the board.
Commenting on his appointment, Gentle said he was delighted to be joining the board at what he described as an exciting stage in the company's development, and that he looked forward to working with the board and the executive team to support continued growth and long term success.
Gentle is a chartered accountant with more than 30 years of experience in retail financial services. He spent over 20 years at PwC, where he became a senior audit partner leading audits of several major British banks, insurers and wealth management firms. He subsequently served as group chief financial officer of St. James's Place for more than seven years, until his retirement in late 2024. He is a non-executive director of Western Provident Association and a member of the board of trustees at Bristol Musical Trust.
The board changes announced on 2 September 2026 form part of an orderly transition. Alongside the departure of Flanagan at the next annual general meeting, Les Platts will not seek re-election, in line with expectations set when he was appointed as a non-independent non-executive director, and Margaret Hassall, having chosen not to serve a third term, will step down from the board on 30 September 2026 following an induction period with the incoming chair of the remuneration committee, Elizabeth G. Chambers.
AJ Bell was established in 1995 and is headquartered in Manchester, with offices in London and Bristol. It is one of the largest investment platforms in the United Kingdom and operates in both the advised and direct to consumer markets. In a trading update published on 23 July 2026, covering the three months to 30 June 2026, the company reported platform assets under administration of 121.5 billion pounds, up 26 per cent over the year, platform customer numbers of 762,000 and quarterly net inflows of 3.0 billion pounds. Assets under management in its investment business stood at 11.4 billion pounds.
The wider British platform sector has expanded as more individuals take responsibility for long term saving through pensions, individual savings accounts and general investment accounts. Growth of that kind places sustained demands on financial reporting, capital and liquidity management and regulatory oversight, the areas in which an audit committee chair works most closely with management and with the external auditor.
The appointment signals continuity in the oversight of financial reporting at a point when the platform's asset base and customer numbers are both growing quickly. In recruiting a former listed company group finance director with a long audit background to chair the audit committee, the board has prioritised technical financial and control experience drawn from within retail financial services.
