PIMFA Financial Crime Conference 2025

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.

Prior to joining the FCA in 2010 Kate worked as a lawyer specialising in financial services litigation in private practice. She has spent the majority of her career at the FCA working in Retail Enforcement leading the relationship management and strategy team overseeing referrals to Enforcement from Supervision.

She is an experienced Head of Department having set up an Enforcement Department with a specific focus on Interventions and Threshold Conditions before leading an Investigation Department running some of the FCA’s most high profile, complex investigations. She also developed the FCA’s Financial Promotions strategy.

In 2022 she moved to Supervision and since then has headed up the Department responsible for Investment Platforms, SIPP Operators, P2P and Crowdfunders as well as proactive teams that lead thematic projects, multi-firm work and with a specific focus on Financial Crime and Consumer Duty.

Michael Jones is a Senior Engagement Officer within the UK’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) at the National Crime Agency.

The UKFIU is responsible for receiving, analysing, disseminating and retaining Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). Michael is responsible for supporting the UKFIUs priorities by fostering relationships and collaborating with the Regulated Sector to ensure high levels of quality are maintained within SAR submissions.

Prior to working within the UKFIU’s Engagement function Michael worked operationally on the UKFIU International Team, responsible for mitigating risk and disseminating SARs intelligence overseas to aid International Law Enforcement partners.

Graham is an expert in unravelling complex money laundering webs.

His unique skills are called upon by a large number of investigative journalists in both print and broadcast media, to help them identify and write about organised crime and corruption – specifically in their use of legal entities to launder the proceeds of crime.

With twenty five years of experience in financial services, most recently he has provided his expertise to high-profile banks in relation to their financial crime control frameworks, including writing the due diligence policy for one global bank.

Helen is a Principal at Avyse Partners and leads the Financial Crime team. She has over 20 years of financial crime and compliance experience gained in a variety of roles at major financial services firms, consultancy firms, a secondment to the regulator and as a contractor. These positions have covered assurance, governance, reporting, policy and advisory and she has been a MLRO.

Helen has worked on multiple reviews for a wide variety of clients and has acted as the Skilled Person on behalf of Avyse

Marit Rødevand is the co-host of The Laundry podcast and the CEO of Strise, a Norwegian technology company leading the way in innovation for AML automation. Strise’s advanced platform has become a critical tool for compliance teams across Europe, with 70% of top-tier Nordic banks relying on its services. Named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2024, Strise continues to set the standard for AML solutions by streamlining processes, enhancing efficiency, and significantly reducing the time and cost of AML compliance.

Katarina Helde Cook, Head of Financial Crime Compliance and MLRO for Handelsbanken Wealth and Asset Management, passionate about the role of financial services in the fight against financial crime –to protect our society, victims, businesses, and the wider economy.

With nearly 20 years of experience in Financial Crime Compliance, Rajvinder is the AML and Sanctions Advisory Director and UK MLRO for FIS Global, an American multinational corporation and leader in financial technology and services.

As a Director at FIS Global, she is passionate about helping businesses and communities thrive by advancing banking and Capital Markets solutions, whilst remaining compliant with AML and Sanctions laws and regulations.

As a UK based AML and Sanctions specialist, she is appointed the Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) for two FCA regulated entities and also responsible for the AML and Sanctions Advisory function across FIS Global.

Marieke Kernet is Evelyn Partners’ Head of Financial Crime and Group MLRO/SMF17, having started as Head of Financial Crime in what was then Smith & Williamson seven years ago.

She previously worked in HSBC’s Financial Crime function covering Global Banking and Markets line of business for Europe and then the UK.

She started her career as an “Avocat à la Cour” (barrister/solicitor) for an international law firm in Luxembourg as an investment fund and banking lawyer for the best part of a decade before a stint in consultancy at EY.

Daniel is a Director in PwC’s Financial Crime practice and has over 13 years of experience in helping clients to assess, remediate and transform their Financial Crime Compliance frameworks.

Daniel works across Financial Services but has extensive experience supporting private banks, wealth and asset managers. Daniel brings a global perspective to his work with extensive programme delivery across the UK and Europe, whilst also spending 3 years in the United States.

Charlie Morrison is Head of the Cyber Griffin team, a programme which makes up one arm of the City of London Police’s Cyber Crime Unit. In his career, Charlie has worked across intelligence and response policing directorates and for the last 7 years has helped develop the force’s Cyber Crime Unit.

He holds specialisms in information security management systems, incident response, and cyber maturity assessments. Charlie was the driving force behind Cyber Griffin which today is an NCSC and CPD® certified training programme. Supported by the Corporation of London, Cyber Griffin protects businesses from cyber criminality and assists the Square Mile in offering world-leading security to the nation’s centre of business.

Lynsey is currently a Deputy Director at the Home Office, responsible for Economic Crime Strategy and Delivery. In this role, she was responsible for leading the development of Economic Crime Plan 2 in partnership with HMT and the private sector, and leads delivery through major Government Programmes,. She was the Programme Director for Suspicious Activity Reporting (SARs) Reform up until this programme was handed back to the National Crime Agency following the rollout out of the new Digital Service for SARs reporting, and is the Programme Director for the delivery of the Fraud Strategy.

Prior to joining the Home Office, Lynsey spent 15 years in consulting (primarily at Accenture) where she helped to deliver a variety of large-scale public-sector transformation programmes in central Government departments and across the criminal justice system.

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.