The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has appointed Sheila Nicoll, currently deputy chief executive of the Investment Management Association (IMA), as its new director of the retail firms division.

Nicoll, who will take up her post in September, has extensive experience in the financial industry and before the IMA worked as the head of international relations for the London Stock Exchange.

The retail firms division supervises a range of firms including life insurance, general insurance and groups of intermediaries. In her new role Nicoll will report to Clive Briault, managing director of the retail markets business unit.

Nicoll succeeds Sarah Wilson, who is now working on a part-time basis leading the FSA's insurance sector team and as director of the treating customers fairly initiative.