Following the Rules

How to succeed as a Chief Compliance Officer in today’s markets with compliance and risk strategists Natalie McManus-Barnett and Jennifer Geary

Today’s episode is part of a Following the Rules series delivering practical guidance on navigating legal, regulatory, technological and cultural change.
In this episode, we turn to a role that has quietly but fundamentally shifted over the past decade: the Chief Compliance Officer. Once seen primarily as a control function, compliance is now expected to sit at the centre of strategy, shaping decisions, influencing culture, and helping firms navigate an increasingly complex and fast-moving regulatory environment.
But while expectations have evolved, practice has not always kept pace. Many firms are still grappling with how to move beyond checklist compliance, how to prioritise effectively in the face of competing demands, and how to embed compliance thinking into everyday decision-making, not just frameworks and documentation.
So what does good look like in practice? Why do compliance programmes still struggle to deliver consistent, decision-useful insight? And how can firms reposition compliance as an enabler of sustainable business, rather than a cost centre?
Joining me to explore these questions are Natalie McManus-Barnett, a former regulator at the Financial Services Authority and senior compliance leader at Citigroup, now founder of thought leadership institute Innovate Compliance, and Jennifer Geary, a former Chief Operating Officer and Chief Risk Officer with senior roles at Barclays and Santander, now a non-executive director and author of five best-selling books in the C-Suite series.
Together, they have brought their experience into a new book, How to Be a Chief Compliance Officer, which sets out a practical framework for modern compliance leadership.
If you are thinking about how to make your compliance function more effective, more credible, and more aligned with business strategy, this episode is for you.----More on The C Suite Framework: https://csuiteframework.co.uk/
More on Innovate Compliance: https://www.innovatecompliance.co.uk/
 

Former Goldman’s compliance exec Mark Taylor on fixing accountability in banking, and why banks still get the basics wrong

Today’s guest argues that after decades of regulatory expansion, compliance is still failing at the basics. From incomplete client records to fragmented legacy systems, he warns that poor data remains one of the industry’s most persistent, and underestimated, risks.
He challenges the industry’s growing reliance on process, questioning whether accountability regimes and surveillance have come at the expense of judgment, culture and open challenge - the very things that prevent problems before they crystallise.
And he explores what happens as technology accelerates ahead of understanding, from AI-driven efficiency to the rise of crypto, warning that regulators and firms alike risk falling behind the businesses they are meant to oversee.
Mark Taylor began his career at the Securities and Futures Authority, a predecessor to the Financial Conduct Authority, and spent two decades at Goldman Sachs in various senior compliance positions including its EMEA Head of Financial Crime Compliance. Since 2023, he has run consultancy Ibex Compliance as its partner.

Special episode: How to modernise voice surveillance for today’s markets with Smarsh's Eric Wiggins and Shaun Hurst

Today’s episode is a special one, produced in association with Smarsh, an AI technology firm providing global financial institutions with tools to capture, store and monitor their communications across 100+ channels. 
This episode is part of our ‘Following the Rules: How To’ series, focused on practical guidance for firms navigating legal, regulatory and technological change.
In this episode, we turn to trader voice - a mission-critical part of market infrastructure now under growing pressure as trading evolves, with hybrid working, mobile devices, multiple platforms, shorter settlement cycles, and increasing regulatory scrutiny around supervision, auditability and operational resilience.
That raises some important questions.Are the voice systems many firms still rely on fit for today’s environment?What does good look like under current regulatory expectations?And how should firms be thinking about surveillance, data and defensibility as scrutiny continues to increase?
Joining me to discuss this are Eric Wiggins, product marketing director at Smarsh, and Shaun Hurst, principal regulatory advisor at Smarsh.
They share their perspectives on how the risk profile of trader voice has changed, where legacy infrastructure falls short, and what firms should be doing now to build voice frameworks that are genuinely regulator-ready.
 

Former insider trader Tom Hardin on the blind spots in finance’s fight against market abuse

Today’s guest is better known to the FBI as ‘Tipper X’, a former hedge fund analyst who became a key cooperating witness in the largest insider trading enforcement sweep in a generation, helping authorities bring cases against more than 80 individuals.
In this episode, he explains why market abuse is rarely a single rogue act. Instead, it’s an incremental process, driven by performance pressure, network drift and the quiet normalisation of ethical grey zones. Drawing on his experience inside a hedge fund, inside a federal investigation and now advising firms and regulators, he argues the industry remains too focused on detecting bad trades rather than preventing bad decisions.
He challenges compliance leaders to look beyond surveillance dashboards, to measure culture as seriously as they measure transactions, and to rethink escalation pathways before misconduct crystallises. And he urges regulators to invest as heavily in prevention and human insight as they do in enforcement technology.
Tom Hardin now works with boards and compliance teams globally, helping them spot the warning signs before misconduct becomes a headline. He is also the author of Wired on Wall Street, which tells the story behind the codename ‘Tipper X’.
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Want to read Tom’s book? Find out more here: https://www.tipperx.com/book
 

FCA deputy CEO Sarah Pritchard on the regulator's to-do list as it navigate new rules, new risks and "uncertain" times

Today’s guest sets out the Financial Conduct Authority’s to-do list for 2026 and beyond.
She details the watchdog’s plans to future-proof UK financial regulation, and outlines what City firms should expect as landmark reforms, including new rules on non-financial misconduct, begin to bed down.
She discusses the FCA’s efforts to build a more open relationship with financial institutions and explains why a more collaborative partnership between regulator and regulated is crucial in the face of unprecedented and rapidly evolving geopolitical, technological and market risks currently shaping financial services.
She also outlines how the watchdog is balancing growth and competitiveness with its core duty to protect consumers and markets and explains why it will continue to push for clearer political accountability to support that task.
Sarah Pritchard’s near three-decade career includes senior roles at banking giant HSBC and the UK’s National Crime Agency. She joined the FCA in 2021 to lead its Supervision, Policy and Competition division and was appointed the regulator’s first Deputy Chief Executive in 2025.

How to handle non-financial misconduct without damaging organisational culture, with former Standard Chartered surveillance chief Emily Wright and conduct risk consultant Emma Parry

Today’s episode is part of a Following the Rules series delivering practical guidance on navigating legal, regulatory, technological and cultural change.
In this episode, we turn to one of the most challenging and fast-evolving areas of regulatory focus: non-financial misconduct. With the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority set to introduce new rules this year that explicitly bring serious non-financial misconduct within scope of the conduct rules, expectations on firms to identify NFM, address it early, and evidence fair and consistent outcomes are rising fast. And this isn’t just a UK story: regulators globally are paying much closer attention to culture, behaviour and individual conduct.
So what does good look like when regulatory guidance is deliberately principles-based? Why are firms still struggling to translate expectations into defensible decisions? And how can they respond to lower-level misconduct in a way that genuinely supports culture, rather than quietly undermining it?
Joining me to explore these questions are:- Emily Wright, a compliance and conduct consultant with over 20 years’ experience, including senior roles at Standard Chartered, JP Morgan and ICAP, and,- Emma Parry, the Founder and CEO of NovaFin Consulting and former Global Head of Product Governance and Conduct in HSBC’s Global Banking and Markets division.
Together, we unpack what the FCA’s rule changes mean in practice, where firms are getting stuck, and why remediation, not just punishment, is becoming a critical part of the conduct conversation. We also discuss the launch of the Conduct Compass, a new framework designed to help firms address non-financial misconduct earlier, more consistently, and in a way that drives real behavioural change.
If you’re grappling with how to make conduct frameworks work on the ground, and how to get ahead of regulatory expectations on culture, this episode is for you.
 
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Download the Conduct Compass white paper here: https://go.ewrightconsulting.com/free-conduct-compass-wp-lm

Special episode: How to modernise trader voice technology to better meet today's regulatory demands with Symphony's Ben Chrnelich and Antoine Stephen

 
Today’s episode is a special one produced in association with Symphony, a secure and compliant communications and markets technology provider, offering messaging, voice, directory and analytics for financial markets and trading teams. 
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 a part of market infrastructure that is mission-critical but often overlooked: trader voice. As firms grapple with hybrid working, rising regulatory expectations, and growing scrutiny around operational resilience and third-party risk, the case for modernising legacy voice technology is becoming harder to ignore.  
So why has trader voice remained so static for so long? What has changed to make transformation both possible and necessary? And how should firms be thinking about compliance, surveillance, and governance as they move away from traditional on-premise turret systems? 
Joining me to explore these questions are: 
Ben Chrnelich, CEO and president at Symphony, and  
Antoine Stephen, head of product management for Symphony's Cloud9. 
Together, they share their perspectives on the regulatory pressures shaping investment in trader voice, the practical realities of moving to cloud-based and software-driven solutions, and how data, analytics and AI are set to reshape voice communications on the trading floor in the years ahead. 

FRC CEO Richard Moriarty on cutting red tape, calling time on “dumb” compliance checklists and futureproofing the accounting watchdog without the legislative powers he was promised

Today’s guest is leading the UK’s audit regulator through reform without the legislative powers originally promised. Two years into the job, he argues the Financial Reporting Council is acting anyway, using proportionate, common-sense regulation to support growth and investment.He sets out a pragmatic agenda for keeping UK audit credible and relevant, covering everything from market concentration and SME audits to AI and the future talent pipeline.
He explains why the watchdog has stripped back governance and stewardship codes, warning that over-prescription has driven box-ticking and weakened board accountability. He defends comply-or-explain as a strength of the UK system and urges companies to be braver in using it.
And he renews his call for political action to back his reform agenda in peacetime, before the next corporate failure forces Parliament’s hand.
Richard Moriarty is Chief Executive of the FRC, the UK regulator responsible for audit, corporate reporting and governance.
 

Special episode: How to prepare for the next wave of crypto regulation

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 firms navigate legal, regulatory, technological and cultural change.
Today, we’re examining one of the most complex shifts in modern financial regulation: the process of bringing crypto into the regulatory perimeter.
Across the UK, EU and US, policymakers are rewriting the rulebook at pace - not only to manage risk, but also to reflect the rapid developments in digital finance. For firms, that means heavier compliance obligations, shifting expectations, and a genuine opportunity to help shape the rules ahead.
So what should businesses be preparing for now? Which parts of the regulatory agenda will hit hardest in the coming months? And how do firms avoid the strategic and structural mistakes that can derail applications or push innovation offshore, while positioning themselves to benefit from clearer rules?
To help unpack all of that, we’re joined by two people at the centre of developments:Gordon Ritchie, is a Managing Associate in the UK financial regulation team at Simmons & Simmons, advising firms across the evolving UK and EU crypto regimes; andTom Duff Gordon, is Vice President for International Policy at Coinbase, leading the crypto exchange’s engagement with governments and regulators globally as they design the next generation of digital-asset rules.
Together, they explore where the regulatory landscape is heading, how business models will need to adapt, and what firms can do today to be ready for, and benefit from, the regulatory wave ahead.---
Short on time? You can read the episode highlights on The Banker's Risk & Regulation hub...

Market Structure Partners' Niki Beattie on why, and how, we need to rethink how markets work

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