Martin Brookes will leave his role as chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) in September to return to the financial services sector.

Brookes has been with NPC for ten years and became its chief executive in 2008. He said: “I am very proud of NPC and what it has already achieved in its first ten years. I know it will go on to do so much more in the future, helping charities have an even greater impact on people’s lives. Although it is time for me to move on to a new challenge, I will remain an ardent supporter and fan of NPC.

“I think that charities and commerce have a lot to learn from each other. I have long believed that it should be commonplace for people to leave charities and join the commercial sector, and vice versa.”

During his time at NPC, Brookes co-founded a new charity, Pro Bono Economics, which pairs charities with economists. Prior to joining the organisation, he was a senior economist at Goldman Sachs International from 1994 to 2001 and, before that, an economist at the Bank of England.

He is going off to join Fulcrum Asset Management, whose chairman is Gavyn Davies, Brookes' old boss and former chief economist of Goldman Sachs. Fulcrum's chief executive is Andrew Stevens, also ex-Goldman Sachs.

NPC’s board has appointed the executive recruitment firm Attenti to lead the search for Brookes’ successor.