UK pensions regulator's policy director steps down

LONDON (Reuters) - The UK pensions regulator's policy director will leave in March, the regulator said on Friday, as it faces scrutiny following a pensions liquidity crisis last year.

David Fairs, Executive Director of Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice, will leave in mid-March, The Pensions Regulator said in a statement.

"A New Year is a time for change, and is the right time for me to pursue new challenges", the statement quoted Fairs as saying.

The regulatory body has come under criticism after pension schemes were caught up in a dash for cash following a fiscal statement in late September.

TPR CEO Charles Counsell also said last June that he would step down in March 2023.

Fairs joined the regulator in July 2018. An interim director of regulatory policy, analysis and advice will be appointed following his departure, TPR said.

The regulator said last month it would update guidance to pension schemes in April on using so-called liability-driven investment, the strategy seen as responsible for the liquidity crisis.

The guidance could include new "steady state" cash buffer levels, data reporting and requirements for fund trustees to speed up decision-making in a crisis.

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Huw Jones and Tomasz Janowski)