Phillip Thorpe is a New Zealander. He first practiced as a barrister and solicitor in Wellington. He moved in 1981 to Hong Kong, where he held various senior posts with the Hong Kong Securities Commission. Following the market crash in October 1987 he was appointed as CEO of the Hong Kong Futures Exchange.

Phillip Thorpe moved to the United Kingdom in 1989 as CEO of the Association of Futures Brokers and Dealers, later becoming an Executive Director of the Securities and Futures Authority. In 1991 he was seconded to the London Commodity Exchange ("London Fox") as CEO. He subsequently assisted the Securities and Investments Board in a review of the UK regulatory system. In 1993 Phillip Thorpe was appointed Chief Executive of IMRO, the organisation responsible for the regulation of the investment management industry in the United Kingdom. Following the 1997 general election Phillip Thorpe was appointed as a Managing Director of the newly formed Financial Services Authority (FSA). The FSA is responsible for the regulation of all insurance, banking, securities and investment business in the United Kingdom.

In August 2001 Phillip Thorpe took up a new appointment as President of the Futures Industry Institute, based in Washington, D.C. The Institute is a not-for-profit organisation providing a wide range of data services, statements of best practice and training and examination services to the financial services industry.

In August 2002 Phillip Thorpe was recruited to establish a new regulatory body in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. In his role as Chief Executive Officer, Phillip Thorpe put together a team of regulators to take this work forward. He oversaw the construction of the legal framework and the regulatory processes leading to the launch of the Dubai Financial Services Authority in October 2004.

In March 2005 Phillip Thorpe took up the post of Chairman and Chief Executive of the QFC Regulatory Authority. The Authority provides an integrated regulatory regime for Qatar's new centre for financial services. The Qatar Financial Centre evidences global best practices and provides facilities for businesses to participate in the rapidly growing Qatari economy.

Mr O’Sullivan was a senior vice president in the Bank Supervision Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  He has had supervisory responsibility for financial examinations covering foreign banking organisations with operations in New York, and for overseeing various technical assistance programmes to benefit foreign-based bank supervisory authorities.

Mr Quinn is a former Executive Director, Supervision and Surveillance, and Acting Deputy Governor of the Bank of England.  As well as holding previous positions in the Bank of England and the IMF, he was a member of the Basel Supervisors Committee and Chairman of the Supervisory Committee of EC Governors.  He has acted as a consultant to the World Bank, IMF, BIS and a number of central banks and supervisory agencies.  Mr Quinn has held non-executive directorships in a number of financial companies, and is currently a non-executive director of Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance Ltd.  He is an Honorary Professor of Economics at Glasgow University and was formerly Chairman of Celtic Plc.  Mr Quinn is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.