In London

Wheatley worked for the London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange

The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...

 for 18 years, including six years on its board. He rose to the position of deputy chief executive, and was closely involved with the failed merger with Deutsche Borse

Deutsche Börse

Deutsche Börse AG is a marketplace organizer for the trading of shares and other securities. It also is a transaction services provider. It gives companies and investors access to global capital markets. It is a joint stock company and was founded in 1993. The headquarters are in Frankfurt,...

 which resulted in Gavin Casey's resignation from the LSE. Wheatley was also Chairman of the FTSE International and sat on the Listing Authority Advisory Committee of the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA). In 2003, Wheatley earned a salary of £224,000 last year and a bonus of £318,000. However, he was made redundant in February 2004; he was expected to receive a severance package

Severance package

A severance package is pay and benefits an employee receives when they leave employment at a company. In addition to the employee's remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following:* An additional payment based on months of service...

 of at least £210,000.

In Hong Kong

In June 2004, Wheatley joined Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission, the market regulator which oversees the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Hong Kong. It is Asia's third largest stock exchange in terms of market capitalization behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the Shanghai Stock Exchange and fifth largest in the world...

 and the Hong Kong Futures Exchange

Hong Kong Futures Exchange

Hong Kong Futures Exchange was a futures exchange in Hong Kong. Established in 1976, it offered a variety of options and futures contracts, linked to stock market indices, stocks, short term interest rates, and foreign exchange.-History:...

, as its executive director for market supervision in June 2004. In September 2005, it was announced that he would replace Andrew Sheng

Andrew Sheng

Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng is a Malaysian accountant. He served as chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission before his replacement by Martin Wheatley in 2005.-Early life:...

 as SFC chairman. Sheng had served in that position since 1998. Wheatley became Chief Executive Officer of the SFC on 23 June 2006. Wheatley is a member of the Financial Stability Board Standing Committee on Standards Implementation, as well as the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Technical Committee. Currently, Wheatley chairs the IOSCO Technical Committee Task Force on Short Selling.

Wheatley's tenure at the SFC was marked by aggressive anti-insider trading

Insider trading

Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...

 enforcement. These included the conviction of Du Jun, a former Morgan Stanley banker who was sentenced to seven years in prison. Among other things, the SFC won its first convictions and jail sentences for insider dealing and the first director disqualifications for listed company misconduct. He also made waves with the SFC case against Richard Li

Richard Li

Richard Li Tzar Kai is the younger son of successful entrepreneur Li Ka-Shing and brother of Victor Li.Li was 26th in the Forbes List of Hong Kong’s 40 Richest people for 2010...

's attempt to buy out public shareholders in PCCW and take the company private again, describing the shareholder vote on the issue as marked by "malpractice and manipulation of voting"; the SFC won a case blocking the buyout on appeal.Following Lehman’s collapse, the SFC secured more than HK$6.5bn (US$835m) in investor compensation from 20 banks and brokers seeking to settle allegations of mis-selling of Lehman-related structured products. However, his handling of the Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

 minibond

Minibond

Minibond is a brand name for a series of structured financial notes issued in Hong Kong under the control of Lehman Brothers. It is a misnomer to describe the Minibond as credit-linked note because of the Synthetic Collateralised Debt Obligations hidden in the three-layered structure...

scandal led to protests by investors who did not receive compensation for their losses.

Wheatley announced his resignation in December 2010, to be effective in mid-2011, roughly three months before the expiration of his contract. Wheatley's total compensation package in 2010 amounted to HK$9.09 million, including HK$7.2 million in basic salary, HK$1.35 million in discretionary pay, and HK$540,000 in retirement scheme contributions. He stated that he would return to Europe to take up a position with a regulatory agency there.

Financial Conduct Authority

The FSA on 2 February 2011 announced the appointment of Wheatley as the new managing director of its Consumer and Markets Business Unit. The appointment is effective from 1 September 2011, and at that time he will also join the FSA Board.
In a separate announcement made by HM Treasury on the same day, Wheatley was also confirmed as the CEO designate of the Consumer Protection and Markets Authority (CPMA), one of the two successor regulatory bodies that will be formed from the future division of the FSA. The CPMA, which was later renamed Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), is expected to be established by the end of 2012.About 3,000 people from the FSA, including virtually all the support functions, will go to the FCA, which will supervise markets, smaller brokers and advisers and will watch how financial institutions of all sizes treat their customers. It is expected to remain in Canary Wharf. The FCA will carry on two of the FSA’s biggest projects: the retail distribution review, which focuses on investment products and advice for retail customers, and the mortgage market review.