PIMFA Compliance Conference 2022

Alex joined PIMFA in June 2017 as a Policy Adviser, where she works on a wide range of regulatory matters, engaging with policy makers and the regulator to promote members’ interests.

She previously worked for the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) in the same capacity. APFA merged with the Wealth Management Association (WMA) to form PIMFA.

Alex has a legal background, having studied law at Cambridge University and was called to the Bar in 1997. She was a tenant at Lamb Chambers, Temple where she specialised in personal injury claims, contractual disputes and professional negligence. Alex has experience of advisory, drafting and court work including appearances in the Court of Appeal, the High Court and county courts.

Simon joined PIMFA in November 2017 as a Senior Policy Adviser with a focus on public policy and long term savings. He has previously worked at the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and the Treasury in a variety of roles working on a number of issues including automatic enrolment, pension freedoms and the UK’s response to the financial crisis.

Simon has a strong interest in long term savings issues with a particular focus on overcoming behavioural barriers and the support structures that can be put in place in order to help and encourage a thriving savings culture in the UK.

Therese Chambers began her career in private practice in the City as a commercial litigator. She has spent 20 years in UK regulatory enforcement at the FCA and FSA, running investigations and conducting litigation in relation to some of the most high profile, complex and challenging regulatory enforcement cases. She is an acknowledged expert on UK financial services regulation and her experience and expertise covers the full range of the FCA’s jurisdiction. Most recently, she was Director of Retail Investigations, responsible for the FCA’s retail investigations portfolio, which includes anti-money laundering, pension scam and misselling investigations. Since January 2022 Therese has been the Director of Consumer Investments, responsible for leading the FCA’s work to protect consumers from the harm caused by scams, poor investments and unsuitable investment advice. Therese is also responsible for the delivery of the FCA’s Consumer Investments Strategy.

Hywel heads the contentious financial services regulatory team in London, acting for banks, insurers, asset managers and other regulated firms.

EXPERIENCE

He advises clients on all aspects of their interactions with the FCA and PRA, from notifications through to Enforcement, and has led a wide variety of firms through complex regulatory, skilled person and internal investigations, securing optimal outcomes with an efficient use of time and resources. Hywel also advises on issues involving consumer redress which often accompany Enforcement investigations, with particular expertise in complaints handling and matters involving the Financial Ombudsman Service. Hywel provides a strategic approach for managing high volume issues as well as technical advice on key individual cases. His experience includes managing cases where the FCA uses or threatens use of its redress power under section 404F(7) FSMA and restitution powers under section 384 FSMA.

Hywel is also known for his governance work, advising a number of banks, insurers and asset managers on the implementation of the senior managers’ regime and issues arising post-implementation from the focus on individual accountability, including attestations.

Hywel has been closely engaged with clients across sectors to understand what the FCA’s Consumer Duty proposals mean for firms and what they will need to do to meet the new requirements.

Hywel is ranked as highly regarded in Financial Services Regulatory by IFLR1000, 2021 and was commended in Legal 500 UK, 2019 as “a stand-out star of the team”. He is the consultant editor of the Thomson Reuters Practitioner’s Guide to the UK Financial Services Rulebooks

Emma is Business Development Manager at Worksmart and has been involved in some 30 SMCR and Training and Competence systems implementations.  After spending a number of years as a Mortgage and Investment Adviser in her early career, for the past 20 years she has put her experience to use in understanding the challenges faced by Financial Services firms and providing solutions that deliver real business benefit.

Nic is an expert in People and Performance Management with over 11 years’ experience of advising on IT-based business solutions at board level to the UK’s financial services industry. He has worked with many of the UKs most recognised financial services brands to deliver flexible and impactful software solutions. Nic is a specialist in the Senior Managers Regime; Regulatory Compliance; Conduct Risk Management and Training & Competence. He is also an authority in Quality Assurance; Complaint Management & Customer Feedback systems and Treating Customers Fairly. Nic is an advocate of the need to focus on managing individual competence and cultural conduct when targeting tangible real-world performance benefits and productivity gains.

James is the Chief Counsel and member of the Executive Team at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s compensation scheme for customers of authorised financial services firms.  James is responsible for the provision of all legal services at FSCS. James was involved in the UK’s response to the financial crisis of 2008/9.  Prior to his role at FSCS, James worked in private practice, specialising in fraud and insolvency litigation, at the law firms Hogan Lovells LLP and, subsequently, Eversheds Sutherland.

James has a wealth of retail financial services experience, contributed to a chapter in the 4th edition of Financial Services Law (OUP), is a regular speaker on regulatory issues and was included on the Legal 500 GC Powerlist for 2021.

Separately, James has recently acted as a volunteer trustee at the Public Law Project, a pioneering national legal charity focused on improving access to public law remedies for disadvantaged individuals.

James is also a passionate advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion making a positive impact on society. James works closely with Black Lawyers Matter (supporting aspiring Black lawyers and increasing representation in the Legal profession) and FSCS supports their mentoring programme. James also acts as a sponsor on FSCS’s internal talent sponsorship programme for Black and Ethnic Minority employees, raising their profile and supporting their development.  James is also FSCS’s Executive sponsor for neurodiversity initiatives within the organisation.

Richard Fenner is Director, Government Relations at Euroclear UK & International (EUI), where he represents EUI in discussions concerning public policy and financial regulation, including post-Brexit changes to the regulatory architecture, digitisation and the impact of technology on equity and fixed income markets. He began his career as an analyst of foreign and economic affairs in the UK Parliament and has worked as a strategic communications consultant and trade association leader including at TheCityUK and the World Federation of Exchanges. Richard originally comes from California and is a graduate of the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

Marina is a financial regulation specialist with extensive experience of advising a wide range of financial services clients including investment banks, broker-dealers, private and retail banks and asset managers.

Marina covers a broad spectrum of regulatory issues including conduct of business, governance, licensing, restructuring, multi-jurisdictional compliance and regulatory considerations arising in the context of corporate transactions.

Marina has supported clients with large scale regulatory change implementation projects such as MiFID II, Brexit and Ringfencing. She has also more recently helped clients navigate the complex landscapes of CSDR and Sustainable Finance/ESG. Marina has also worked with industry trade associations on topics such as MiFID and CSDR.

• ESG – advising a number of global investment banks on various aspect of sustainable finance developments including in identifying the impact on their global groups
• CSDR – advising a number of financial institutions on their implementation of CSDR and working with industry trade associations to develop model contractual provisions to be included by the industry in client agreements
• Intermediate Parent Undertaking (IPU) – advising a global banking group on its implementation of the IPU requirements
• Brexit – acting as strategic advisor on the Brexit projects of two global investment banks including on intra-group arrangements, booking models and licensing analysis
• Ringfencing – advising a leading UK retail bank on its ringfencing restructuring and assisting with defining its ringfencing perimeter
• MiFID II – advising two global investment banks on their MiFID II implementation projects, including impact assessment and analysis on complex interpretational issues.

Julia has specialised in sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) for nearly three decades.  She is a passionate advocate of the need for investors to pay far more attention to sustainability – believing that it is not only necessary, but financially sound and what many clients want.

Julia has run her own business, SRI Services, since 2010.  SRI Services is primarily focused on helping retail financial services professionals to build sustainable investment into their businesses. Their focus is the open to all, ‘whole of SRI market’, Fund EcoMarket database tool – which is free to use thanks to fund partner support.

Julia is on the FCA’s Disclosure and Labels Advisory Group (DLAG) – helping shape the SDR. She is also the technical author of the British Standards Institution’s Fund PAS (BSI PAS 7342) which is due to publish in late 2023.  Julia is also the lead author of the PIMFA ESG Academy.

Awarded ‘Best Sustainable & ESG Support Provider’ by Investment Week in 2021 their work is specialised but diverse, inducing working closely with B2B and D2C fund platforms and portfolio providers.  Julia is also a regular conference speaker, media commentator and award judge.

Julia previously ran the sustainable investment area in Friends Provident (1996-2008), having first become involved in sustainable investment at NPI in 1991 (now respectively part of Aviva and Janus Henderson). She has previously served three (non-consecutive) terms as a director at industry not-for-profit UKSIF.

Alex joined PIMFA in June 2017 as a Policy Adviser, where she works on a wide range of regulatory matters, engaging with policy makers and the regulator to promote members’ interests.

She previously worked for the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) in the same capacity. APFA merged with the Wealth Management Association (WMA) to form PIMFA.

Alex has a legal background, having studied law at Cambridge University and was called to the Bar in 1997. She was a tenant at Lamb Chambers, Temple where she specialised in personal injury claims, contractual disputes and professional negligence. Alex has experience of advisory, drafting and court work including appearances in the Court of Appeal, the High Court and county courts.

Simon joined PIMFA in November 2017 as a Senior Policy Adviser with a focus on public policy and long term savings. He has previously worked at the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and the Treasury in a variety of roles working on a number of issues including automatic enrolment, pension freedoms and the UK’s response to the financial crisis.

Simon has a strong interest in long term savings issues with a particular focus on overcoming behavioural barriers and the support structures that can be put in place in order to help and encourage a thriving savings culture in the UK.