Following the Rules

Today’s guest calls on regulators and policymakers to stop seeking to regulate alternative asset managers like they’re banks.

She details how policymakers can best rethink the regulatory framework for the non-bank sector to benefit not only alternative asset managers but also the financial sector more broadly.

And she explains how a push to harmonise the rulebooks between competing financial hub could also help with a broader push to bolster jurisdictional competitiveness.

Jillien Flores is a regulatory affairs specialist whose 17-year career includes seven years at government relations firm Porterfield, Lowenthal, Fettig & Sears where she helped to shape several of the US’s landmark regulatory response to the 2008 financial crisis, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform 

She spent six years advocating on regulatory issues for asset manager Vanguard before leaving in 2021 to join the Managed Funds Association, a trade group representing the world's biggest hedge funds, where she now serves as Chief Advocacy Officer.

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Today’s guest pinpoints the “very technical” but overly complex regulatory requirements underpinning financial markets that he believes regulators could rethink to generate “big savings” for both themselves and the market participants they oversee.

He discusses the lessons he would like to see industry players take on board and the changes he believes policymakers should consider in their efforts to prevent a repeat of recent high-profile failures including the collapse of Swiss lender Credit Suisse and family office Archegos.

And he should know. Because Edwin Schooling Latter’s career not only includes just over a decade overseeing critical aspects of wholesale market policy and supervision on behalf of the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority but also eight months as Credit Suisse’s primary relationship manager with the Prudential Regulation Authority and the FCA during the bank’s collapse.

He spent a year as senior international policy adviser at UBS, following its acquisition of Credit Suisse, before joining Japanese bank Mizuho in late 2024 as its UK head of compliance. 

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

Today’s guest discusses the European Securities and Markets Authority’s to-do list for 2025, and she explains the regulator’s priorities as it responds to an EU-wide effort to simplify the bloc’s rulebook.

She outlines ESMA’s expectations of market participants subject to its landmark reforms on digital operational resilience and crypto-assets and she details how she plans to make sure both regimes are implemented in as effective a way as possible.  

She also opens up about life at the helm of the EU watchdog, her strategies for navigating “difficult market periods” and plenty more besides.

Verena Ross’s 30-year career includes roles helping to shape various aspects of financial services policy at regulators including the Bank of England and FCA predecessor the Financial Services Authority.  She joined ESMA in 2011 and has been the organisation’s chair since November 2021.

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

Today’s guest outlines how he expects financial services regulators in the UK and European Union to react to President Trump’s increasingly erratic policymaking.

He details the regulatory changes he believes are needed to ensure the UK government achieves its growth mission and he highlights what Brussels must get right if the EU is serious about remaining globally competitive.

He also explains why it is imperative that governments — from London to Washington — pay close attention to the quiet storm building in global bond markets.

Mathew Gilbert brings two decades of experience to this conversation, including roles at hedge fund Abaco Asset Management and boutique investment bank KBW. Since 2016, he has led government policy and regulatory strategy firm Capstone’s European operations from London, advising financial institutions’ C-suites, and investors navigating today’s fast-evolving regulatory landscape.

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

Today’s guest is on a mission to bring ethics and compliance to the top table.

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

Today’s guest explains how the world’s largest interdealer brokers is rethinking its approach to surveillance. 

He outlines the benefits of adopting a more behaviourally led methodology to monitor financial services workers’ conduct, which he says provides a more holistic view of workplace culture when run alongside traditional surveillance.

He details the common mistakes finance bosses should avoid when seeking to measure workplace conduct and culture. And he discusses what guidance the Financial Conduct Authority must provide the market to ensure its efforts to more closely track City worker’s non-financial misconduct are truly effective.

Nik Bunney spent just under 13 years as a broker before moving into compliance monitoring in 2018. He joined broking giant TPICAP in 2023 and since 2024, he has run its targeted surveillance team. He will be explaining exactly what it is that department does in this episode. 

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

***PODCAST NOTES***

Behavioural risk experts Dr. Wieke Scholten and David Grosse outline where the banking sector and its regulators are going wrong in their approach to managing their cultural concerns

ABCD: Finding Happiness through Awareness, Values, Principles, and Actions

Today’s guest outlines how the compliance function, and those working within it, can best navigate today’s rapidly changing technological and regulatory environment.

Today’s guest outlines how he expects the rightward shift in global politics, from Trump’s resurgence to Europe’s own populist movements, is likely to reshape financial services regulation in the UK and EU. 

Today’s guest outlines why she believes the government’s efforts to boost the UK’s economic growth are more likely to succeed if they include a fundamental shift in how the City talks about its capital markets and a rethink of how the City’s regulators are incentivised to support the growth mission. 

Today’s episode is a special one produced in association with Smarsh, a global technology firm providing financial services companies of all sizes around the world with the tools to capture, store, and monitor their communications. 

And they outline how the vast volumes of communications data currently being gathered by financial institutions for compliance purposes can also be used strategically to help these same institutions grow their businesses.