The Investment Association (IA) — the trade group for the UK fund management industry — said it appointed Chris Cummings as chief executive.

Cummings joins the IA, whose members manage £5.5 trillion of assets, from TheCityUK where he is the founding chief executive.

The appointment follows the departure of former IA chief executive Daniel Godfrey in October 2015.

Cummings succeeds Guy Sears, who has served as interim chief executive for the past five months.

Cummings is expected to join the IA by the end of the third quarter of 2016.

“I believe the UK’s asset management industry has the opportunity to adopt a greater role in society, generating wealth and lifelong financial well-being for millions of people and providing stable long-term financing to help British businesses to grow,” said Cummings.

After spending seven years as director general at AIFA, the trade body for financial advisers, Cummings launched TheCityUK in June 2010 to represent the UK’s financial and professional services industry.

Before the AIFA, Cummings advised clients while at Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Mercer and held senior marketing roles at Sun Life of Canada and PPP.

Cummings is a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s regulatory decisions committee.