Wealth Management Association has announced that chief executive Tim May is to step down from later this year, coinciding with a tumultuous period for the UK sector.

The Wealth Management Association has announced that chief executive Tim May is to step down from later this year, ending a period in the role that has seen the advent of the biggest regulatory change to the UK industry for years.

May oversaw the transformation of the WMA from its old name of APCIMS (the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers).

He begins his handover to Liz Field on 1 September. Field was previously CEO of the Financial and Legal Skills Partnership, a trade association. Other roles have included her position as CEO of the Financial Services National Training Organisation, the Banks and Building Societies National Training Organisation, and the Insurance Industry Training Council; trade associations that focus on skills, and spent four years as Head of Organisational Development at Gerrard.

In 2013, the industry saw the start of the Retail Distribution Review programme of reforms to UK wealth management advice, which has been accompanied by a wave of M&A the sector and changes to how firms charge clients for services. The rising burden of regulatory change has also been blamed for widening the so-called “advice gap” in the UK. The sector is now bracing itself for the start – due in 2017 – of the second iteration of sweeping European Union financial regulations known as “MiFID 2”.