Breakfast Briefing – Making the most of suitability: how to turn a regulatory burden into an opportunity to gain control over your business

Ian has almost 30 years’ experience as a risk and compliance professional.   He started his regulatory career in 1986 with the Surveillance Division of the London Stock Exchange which evolved into The Securities Association, which regulated stockbrokers, where he was a senior manager. He spent many years as a main board members and Compliance Director of one of the largest private client investment managers and stockbrokers in the UK.

Ian is Director of Regulation at the Wealth Management Association (“WMA”). His role entails constant contact with the UK regulator, the FCA at all levels and other organisations such as HM Treasury, Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. He is involved all areas of policy development and provides regulatory support to WMA’s member firms.

Ian is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Wealth Manager. He is a member of the examination panel for the Applied Wealth Management paper which is a constituent of the CISI Masters in Wealth Management and sits on the Committee overseeing CISI’s role as an Accredited Body. In 2009 he was voted by his peers Compliance Personality of the Year! He speaks regularly on a range of regulatory topics.

David Howard joined Brewin Dolphin in May 2013 as chief administration officer and member of the group’s executive committee. David’s role includes responsibility for the change management function, encompassing both process reengineering and technology implementation.

In 1985 David joined the London office of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, qualifying as a chartered accountant. In 1989 he decided to pursue a career in financial services. He fulfilled a number of finance related roles, subsequently joining a subsidiary group of Guinness Mahon in 1991 where he became finance director. He joined Insinger de Beaufort in 1995, becoming the UK chief operating officer in 2004. David was the COO at Williams de Broë from 2008 until 2012, where inter alia he presided over a change programme to address issues such as TCF and Suitability. David is an ACA and a Chartered MCSI.

Adam Markson is responsible for Accenture’s services around finance, risk and regulation for banks and investment managers in the UK. Adam is a chartered accountant and has experience across audit, consulting, technology, finance and risk transformation, and regulatory implementation. Before working for Accenture, Adam was responsible for finance, risk and regulatory implementation programmes at Deutsche Bank. Accenture’s approach is to work closely with its investment management and banking clients to develop and implement practical and cost-effective solutions to regulatory compliance. Such regulatory solutions need to be carefully planned and sequenced, should aim to reduce complexity rather than increase it, and often need substantial change management efforts. Suitability has become one key regulatory and business challenge for investment managers, and is impacting business strategy, culture and training as well as process, data and technology.

Rob Taylor is the Head of Investment Management Department at the Financial Conduct Authority.  He has also worked in venture capital and is former chief executive of Kleinwort Benson Bank, the London-based merchant and private-client banking group. He is currently Chair of the University for Creative Arts in Kent and Surrey, Chair of the Whitechapel Gallery and a non-executive director of Trumans Brewery and of the East London NHS Foundation Trust.

He began his career working in American politics and as a financial journalist in New York. He is a public speaker at financial services conferences and is an outspoken supporter of LGBT career opportunities in the City as well.