UK Ousts Antitrust Head and Replaces Him With Ex-Amazon Exec

The U.K. has reportedly replaced its competition watchdog for failing to prioritize the government’s growth agenda.

According to a report Wednesday (Jan. 22) by Reuters, the government has replaced Marcus Bokkerink as head of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with Doug Gurr, former head of Amazon’s U.K. operations.

During an event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, British finance minister Rachel Reeves said she needed a CMA head who agreed with her “strategic direction.”

“He recognized it was time for him to move on and make way for somebody who does share the mission and the strategic direction that this government are taking,” Reeves said.

The report notes that Bokkerink’s ouster came one day after Donald Trump returned to the White House, pledging to reduce regulation governing industries such as the tech sector. Some of that work is already underway, with Travis Hill, acting chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), saying Tuesday (Jan. 21) that the agency would conduct a “wholesale review” of banking regulations.

Critics of the U.K. government’s decision say it suggests a period of regulatory rollbacks is about to begin in England, which has typically not been shy on cracking down on big business.

“Now is the time to file your mergers with the CMA,” said Tom Smith, former legal director at the authority and now competition lawyer at Geradin Partners. “The government is sending a clear signal that it wants the CMA to go easy on dealmakers.”

According to Reuters, the U.K.’s Labor government, facing pressure to jumpstart the economy, has called on regulator to “tear down the barriers hindering businesses” and focus on growth, though some have questioned whether rolling back competition rules would achieve this.

After his removal, Bokkerink said on a LinkedIn post that markets should not be held back “by a few powerful incumbents setting the rules for everyone else.”

The move follows other recent measures in the U.K. to relax financial regulations. Sam Woods, chief executive of the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority, told a House of Lords committee earlier this month that financial resilience and economic competitiveness “go hand in hand” as he discussed efforts to address government demands to bolster economic growth.

The changes can happen without leading to “a race to the bottom” on financial regulation, he told the chamber’s financial services regulation committee.