Following the Rules

Today’s guest delivers a blunt warning to policymakers, arguing the UK has made “a massive mistake” by failing to stop trading venues from charging for market data - a failure she says has weakened the country’s competitiveness. She calls on the government to “wake up and listen” to the scale of the issue or risk losing ground to rival financial centres.

She also argues that the industry’s fixation on blockchain as a panacea to everything has been a decade-long distraction. She sees the real shift now reshaping markets as the move to 24/7 global trading, clearing and settlement. City bosses, she warns, must prepare now by overhauling legacy systems, or risk becoming obsolete.

And she sets out a bold vision for London: to use its existing market infrastructure to become the trusted global venue where any asset can be traded and transferred safely, 24/7, between counterparties.

Niki Beattie has been at the forefront of market infrastructure transformation throughout her career of more than 30 years in financial markets, including more than a decade as Head of EMEA Market Structure at Merrill Lynch International. She founded consultancy Market Structure Partners in 2008 and has extensive experience as Non Executive Director and Chair of public and privately listed firms in the international financial sector.   She is currently Chair of ClearToken, the UK digital-asset clearing and settlement house and a non executive Director of the Financial Markets Standards Board.

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Today’s episode is part of a special series of Following the Rules produced in association with Simmons & Simmons, an international law firm supporting financial institutions across the global regulatory landscape.

The series offers practical insights to help financial services firms navigate legal, regulatory, technological, and cultural change.

In this episode, we’re diving into one of the most intense moments a business can face - a dawn raid.

When Nick Ephgrave took over as Director of the UK Serious Fraud Office in 2023, he’s pledged “swifter action and more dawn raids” - a clear signal that the agency is refocusing on proactive, visible enforcement.

But what does a dawn raid actually look like in practice? How should firms respond when investigators appear unannounced at the door? And how can businesses prepare, both legally and culturally, for such a high-pressure event?

To answer these questions, we’re joined by two experts on the topic:

Together, they discuss how enforcement dynamics are shifting, what mistakes companies tend to make under pressure, and what practical steps legal and compliance teams can take today to be ready if the SFO comes knocking.

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Short on time? You can read the episode highlights on The Banker's Risk & Regulation hub...

Today’s guest outlines how the accelerating pace of regulatory change poses significant challenges for global financial institutions. He highlights that fragmentation can create a complex landscape for banks’ compliance divisions, and underscores the benefits of adopting a more coordinated, risk-based approach to rulemaking.

He also discusses how the industry could best evolve the traditional three lines of defence model, how banks can better anticipate risks and how banks and regulators can collaborate to achieve an effective balance between protecting markets and promoting growth.

Graham Kent’s career spans three decades and includes seven years as a lawyer at Clifford Chance. He joined Deutsche Bank’s legal department in 2006. He has since held several senior roles across the bank’s legal and compliance divisions before becoming its Group Chief Compliance Officer in 2024.

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Short on time? You can read the episode highlights on The Banker's Risk & Regulation hub...

Today’s episode is part of a special series of Following the Rules produced in association with Simmons & Simmons, an international law firm supporting financial institutions across the global regulatory landscape.

The series offers practical insights to help financial services firms navigate legal, regulatory, technological, and cultural change.

In this episode, we explore two closely-linked developments set to reshape the compliance agenda: reforms to the UK’s senior managers regime, and the FCA’s new rules on toxic workplace behaviour, which will bring bullying, harassment, and discrimination within the scope of regulatory misconduct from 2026.

So, what do these changes mean for senior managers and their teams? How can firms strike the right balance between cutting red tape and maintaining strong accountability? And how should legal, compliance and HR functions prepare for regulator’s growing focus on culture and non-financial misconduct?

Joining me to discuss these questions are:

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Today’s episode is a special one produced in association with Smarsh, a technology firm providing global financial institutions with the tools to capture, store, and monitor their communications.

It’s part of a new Following the Rules series providing practical guidance to help financial services firms navigate legal, regulatory, technological, and cultural change.

In this episode, we look at a hot-button issue for regulators on both sides of the Atlantic: how banks and investment firms monitor voice communications. Even in an era of instant messaging, the most sensitive deals are still struck over the phone. And that makes voice communications a prime focus for watchdogs worried about misconduct and recordkeeping failures.

I’m joined by Ryan Kahan, the executive vice president of voice interactions at Smarsh, who has spent decades helping financial institutions navigate the complexities of voice recording and surveillance. We discuss why regulators are ramping up pressure on firms to capture and store calls, the common mistakes banks make when trying to upgrade their systems, how new technology could transform the field, and what practical steps firms should be taking now to stay ahead.

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Short on time? You can read the episode highlights on The Banker's Risk & Regulation hub...

Today’s episode is a special one produced in association with Simmons & Simmons, an international law firm supporting financial institutions across the global regulatory landscape.

It also forms part of a new Following the Rules series providing practical, actionable guidance to help listeners and the financial services firms they work for navigate legal, regulatory, technological, and cultural change.

In this episode, we turn to the future of work – an area moving rapidly up the agenda. A 2024 survey by the Bank of England and the FCA found that 75% of UK-regulated firms are already deploying or trialling AI and machine learning, particularly in areas like anti-money laundering, and fraud detection. By 2025, firms are beginning to explore more sophisticated and complex use cases.

So how will AI reshape the role of legal and compliance teams in financial services? What steps can organisations take to future-proof these functions as innovation accelerates? And what are the risks of failing to adapt?

Joining us to share their insights are:

Charlotte Stalin, the head of Simmons & Simmons’ financial institutions sector, who advises leading global investment firms and banks on financial services regulation, having joined the firm in 2006.

Sarah James, a Partner at Simmons & Simmons, who since 2016 has also led the firm’s flexible legal resource business, Adaptive, as its Global Head.

Short on time? You can read the episode highlights on the FT's Banking, Risk and Regulation...

Today’s guest discusses how some wholesale financial institutions may be unnecessarily “gold-plating” their efforts to comply with the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty regime.

She details how the regulator plans to both clarify and simplify its expectations of all firms subject to the far-reaching ruleset.

She also discusses the FCA’s plans to help firms, both large and small, navigate the rapid deployment of AI tools across financial services and explains why inclusive product design is important for firms to get right.

Charlotte Clark’s career includes stints overseeing policy on various aspects of pensions regulation at HM Treasury and the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as four years as director of regulation at lobby group the Association of British Insurers. She joined the FCA in November 2024 to lead its work on consumer strategy, and broader policy affecting firms across all sectors as the watchdog’s director for cross-cutting policy and strategy.

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Short on time? You can read the episode highlights on the FT's Banking, Risk and Regulation

Today’s episode is a special one produced in association with Smarsh, a technology firm providing global financial institutions with the tools to capture, store, and monitor their communications.

It also marks the launch of a new Following the Rules series providing practical, actionable guidance to help listeners and the financial services firms they work for navigate legal, regulatory, technological, and cultural change.

We’re kicking off with a deep dive into non-financial misconduct - a growing area of regulatory focus. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority now considers toxic workplace behaviour, such as bullying, harassment, and discrimination, to be conduct that could impact a person’s fitness for regulated roles and signal broader cultural failings. From 2026, the FCA will begin supervising serious cases more closely.

So how can firms of all sizes effectively detect, respond to, and minimise non-financial misconduct within their businesses? How do you define what counts as serious bullying or discrimination? And how can organisations ensure change is meaningful, not just a box-ticking exercise?

Today’s guests are experts in the subject.

Shaun Hurst is Smarsh’s Principal Regulatory Advisor, with a background in managing technology for Citigroup’s security and investigations teams in Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Emily Wright is a compliance and conduct consultant with over 20 years' experience, including overseeing compliance and surveillance programmes at financial services giants Standard Chartered, JP Morgan, and ICAP.

Today’s guest outlines where governments and financial regulators are going wrong in their supervision of the sector.

He details where he sees potentially systemic risks mounting and he explains what banks, financial institutions and their supervisors can do now to prevent a significant blow-up from occurring on their watch.

Mark Watson is a governance and risk expert whose three-decade career includes stints advising financial institutions on governance and non-financial risks on behalf of consulting giants McKinsey and EY. In 2022, he joined Silicon Valley Bank, to lead a redesign of its management decision-making as its head of management governance. Since the bank’s collapse in 2023, he has been advising financial institutions on corporate governance, risk management, and financial services regulation as the founder of Portcullis Consulting.

Today’s guest explains why global standards for financial conduct could help counter the risk of rising regulatory fragmentation - providing, as he puts it, “the glue to hold diverging rule books together.”

He outlines how a robust governance framework could help financial institutions better tackle toxic workplace behaviour. He explains why he believes a central repository for authenticated data may be key to fighting AI-generated fakes.

And he opens up about the Financial Markets Standards Board’s ambitions to expand its global footprint and its membership.

Myles McGuinness’s 30-year career includes two decades - and several senior roles - at UK lender NatWest Markets. He spent two years establishing the bank’s capital markets business in Europe as its EMEA head of Financing and Risk Solutions before leaving in 2021 to lead the FMSB as its CEO.