In this conversation, Dean Elwood speaks with Tracey McDermott, former Acting Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority and former Chief Compliance Officer at Standard Chartered.

Drawing on her experience on both sides of the regulatory divide, Tracey reflects on how misconduct emerges inside financial institutions, what regulators look for when things go wrong, and how banks can build stronger cultures of accountability.

The discussion covers the mortgage endowment scandal, LIBOR, the challenge of rebuilding trust in financial regulation, and the evolving role of compliance as data and AI reshape the industry.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro
01:17 From Litigation to the Financial Regulator

04:29 The mortgage endowment mis-selling case

07:22 Rebuilding Trust in the Regulator

10:17 The Reality of Leading a Public Regulator

12:56 The role of boards in risk oversight

15:25 The Hidden Patterns Behind Financial Misconduct

18:05 Enforcement vs Culture in Financial Institutions

20:27 Why the LIBOR Scandal Changed Everything

22:47 Individual Accountability vs Systemic Failure

26:34 The Hardest Problems Finance Still Has

30:27 The Gap Between Regulation and Reality

32:00 Looking Back on a Career in Regulation and Banking

33:58 The Future of Compliance and the Role of AI