Her appointment means the Abrdn board will consist of six men and six women.

Ms Bradley was on the FCA board from 2014 to 2020 and has a long career in financial services. She is also a director of Kingfisher and Easyjet.

She has more than 30 years of executive experience with financial institutions and industrial companies. 

She worked at Societe Generale as head of equity advisory Asia-Pacific and worked at Credit Suisse. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, she worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, BNP Paribas, UBS and Merrill Lynch.

In her subsequent non-executive career, over the past seven years she has served on the boards of companies in the UK, France and Hong Kong. 

She was appointed to the board of the FCA in 2014 and played a key role in the establishment of the FICC Markets Standards Board in 2015. She stepped down from both boards in 2020. 

Sir Douglas Flint, chairman of Abrdn plc, said: "I am delighted to welcome Catherine to our board. Her knowledge and experience gained from working across Europe and Asia, in serving on the boards of leading consumer-facing companies and her experience gained working with regulators and standard setters will bring considerable and incremental value to our discussions."

Following her appointment the Abrdn board will comprise two executive directors, nine non-executive directors and the chairman.