Regs & Eggs™ at the House of Commons 

Communications, Trades & AI Working Together

Changing the way financial services firms approach compliance


08.30-11.30 - 26 May 2023

Register your interest here:

Exploring the integration between trade and communications data

Markets, financial instruments, trading methods, and communication channels have been evolving rapidly over the past decade, as has the regulatory burden for detecting and preventing fraudulent behaviour and market manipulation.

This resulted in intense pressure on firms to improve their monitoring for and detection of compliance failures and market abuse risk. However, unaligned data spanning trades and communications and the proliferation of systems that many firms rely on today make it difficult for firms to respond to changing risks with flexibility and agility.

This breakfast event will look at the importance of compliance and culture in preventing fraud and market abuse, with a keynote session from Nick Leeson about the lacklustre safeguards and poor culture that ultimately led to the collapse of Barings Bank.

The event will also explore the role of integrated communications and trade data, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI) in improving market surveillance and the key considerations for driving a more innovative and futureproofed compliance agenda.  

Arrow

Why attend Regs & Eggs 2023

As the financial landscape becomes ever more complex and competitive, this event will present the latest theories and thoughts around the use of multi-dimensional data and ML/AI in compliance and market surveillance. We have an exciting line-up of speakers, including "rouge trader" Nick Leeson, William Blair International’s Chief Compliance Officer, Marili Anderson, and NatWest's Head of Group Surveillance, Rebecca Butler, with many more to come. 

Register your interest

Agenda

08.30:
Arrival and coffee reception

08.45:
Seated breakfast

09.35:
Welcome address from SteelEye CEO, Matt Smith

09.45 - 12.30

  • Keynote: The Original "Rogue Trader" Nick Leeson

    About the collapse of Barings Bank, the culture and lack of accounting safeguards that ultimately led to the bank’s collapse, and the importance of robust compliance and governance. 

    Learn more >
  • Panel: Communications, Trades and AI working together 

    Exploring the role of integrated trade and communications data and AI/ML in surveillance. Confirmed panellists:

    • Marili Anderson, Chief Compliance Officer, UK & Europe, William Blair

    • Rebecca Butler, Head of Group Surveillance, NatWest 

    • Sarah Hone, Manager Market Surveillance Team, FCA

    • Mark Croxon, Independent Advisor (moderator)

Learn more >

  • Session: The use of AI & Large Language Models in Financial Services

    With John O'Hara, Venture Partner & Advisor at Fidelity International Strategic Ventures. Discussing how firms can make pragmatic use of these technologies, key considerations, and what the near and far evolution might look like.

    Learn more >

Details

Date:
26 May

Time:
08.30-12.30

Location:
House of Commons, in the Palace of Westminster

Don't miss the chance to join this
working breakfast at the
House of Commons 

Arrow

Keynote Session: "Rogue Trader" Nick Leeson

The collapse of Barings Bank and Nick Leeson’s role in it is one of the most spectacular debacles in financial history. When the bank collapsed in 1995, it was described by the media as a wake-up call and that something like this could never happen again. Yet, more than two decades later, we continue to see countless cases of rogue trading, financial scandal, and corporate fraud in many industries around the world.

Despite advances in technology, security, and IT, at the heart of all of these cases lies human error and poor judgment. 

Nick will be speaking about the collapse of Barings Bank, the culture which existed at the time, and the lack of accounting safeguards that ultimately led to the collapse. He will also discuss the importance of compliance, risk management, governance, and culture in financial services. 

About Nick Leeson: 

Nick Leeson is a former derivatives trader infamously known as the "Rogue Trader." He single-handedly caused the collapse of Barings Bank, the UK's oldest investment bank, in 1995. Through unauthorized and speculative trades, Leeson accrued losses totalling $1.3 Billion. Leeson was arrested and sentenced to six-and-a-half years in a Singaporean prison. Since his release in 1999, he has become a public speaker, author and a cautionary figure in the world of finance.

Arrow

Panel: Communications, Trades and AI working together 

This panel will explore how firms can leverage multi-dimensional data, AI, and ML to improve market surveillance and the barriers that prevent innovation in this space. It will also look at what the regulatory guidance says about the use of AI/ML and integrated surveillance. Panellists will share insights on where they are on their data and AI/ML journey, along with lessons learned and best practices. 

 

Panellists:

Marili Anderson - SteelEye Regs & EggsMarili Anderson

Chief Compliance Officer, UK & Europe, William Blair

Marili Anderson is the Chief Compliance Officer for the UK and Europe at William Blair International Ltd, William Blair’s London-based affiliate. Marili holds the Senior Management Controlled functions: SMF 16 (Compliance Officer) and SMF 17 (Money Laundering Reporting Officer). Marili has held several senior compliance roles in both the sell-side and the buy-side within the UK and Europe. She joined William Blair in August 2021 from Natixs Investment Managers, where she was a MD, Project Leader for the Enterprise Compliance Program and the CIB Global Head of Private Side Compliance.

 

Rebecca Butler

Head of Group Surveillance, NatWest 

Rebecca was appointed Head of Group Surveillance for NatWest in September 2022, covering trade, electronic and audio communications surveillance across all lines of business. Prior to this Rebecca started her career at KPMG in 1998, becoming a qualified accountant in Financial Services audit before moving to UBS in 2003, where she performed a series of roles in the Finance function. In 2014 Rebecca transitioned into the Compliance function, where she was the Regional Head of Monitoring, Surveillance & Controls for the UK & Jersey before assuming the role of Head of Strategy & Governance for Monitoring, Surveillance & Controls.

SteelEyes 2023 Annual Compliance Health Check ReportSarah Hone

Manager Market Surveillance Team, FCA

Sarah Hone manages the Market Surveillance team at the FCA. The team is responsible for the specialist supervision of the suspicious transaction and order report (STOR) regime, and the FCA’s market abuse surveillance. Sarah joined the FCA in 2012, and has also worked at one of London’s largest investment banks and a UK regulated market.

 

Moderator

Mark Croxon SteelEye Regs & Eggs

Mark Croxon

Independent Advisor

Mark has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry, having worked in derivatives, prime brokerage, and clearing at JP Morgan, Dresdner Bank, Barclays, HSBC, and Nomura. In these roles, he has worked on the development of new businesses such as FX Prime Brokerage, Cross-Product Margining, and OTC Derivative Intermediation. Post-financial crisis, Mark worked closely with regulators and market infrastructure providers to develop a client clearing business at Nomura. Before becoming an independent consultant, Mark spent over two years as European Head of Regulatory and Market Structure Strategy, leading Bloomberg’s MiFID II commercial and technological programme.

Arrow

Session: The use of AI & Large Language Models in Financial Services

With John O'Hara, Venture Partner & Advisor at Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, discussing how firms can use these technologies pragmatically, key considerations, and what the near and far evolution might look like.

About John O'Hara: 

John is an entrepreneur, advisor and angel investor. He was co-founder of Taskize which he sold to Euroclear and previously held senior leadership roles at Bank of America, BP, RBS/NatWest, and JP Morgan where he was also a Distinguished Engineer. John is the inventor of AMQP deployed in products from Microsoft, Amazon and IBM. He holds board positions at 4 fintech companies.

ABOUT REGS & EGGS

We launched our Regs & Eggs event series in 2017 - inviting industry experts to share their insights and views on the latest regulatory changes over breakfast (eggs to be specific). The last event was hosted at the House of Commons in April 2022 and brought together expert speakers from King's College London, TP ICAP, Baringa, PWC and more. These events aim to share knowledge and facilitate discussions with industry leaders about the key factors that impact financial services compliance.

Last year we focused on the power of data. Lawrence Deju-Wiseman, Director at PWC, opened up the day's session by discussing agents of change: the role of compliance in building better data. Peter McBurney, Professor of Computer Science at King's College London, spoke about AI, and our expert panel, including speakers from UnaVista, TP ICAP, and Baringa Partners, discussed how to use regulatory data to drive operational alpha.