Overview of UK Fintech Regulation

Speakers

Christina Liaos, Regional Director Europe North & Foreign Direct Investment Lead Europe, Department for International Trade

Christina Schiøtt Liaos is responsible for the leadership, strategic alignment and coordination of the UK’s inward investment activities in Europe. She leads a team of 90 investment professionals operating on the ground across 25 European markets.

In parallel, Christina is also Regional Director for the DIT Europe North region, leading the 8 trade and investment teams in the Nordic and Baltic region, focusing on deliver of trade services to over 5,000 UK companies and assistance to over 100 Nordic and Baltic companies establishing a UK business platform for global growth per year.

Currently, Christina and her teams support businesses to continue to trade and invest despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to ensure that British and European companies are well equipped to continue trading during implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Christina has been with the Department for International Trade for over a decade, holding positions as Director for Denmark and Director for the Nordic Region. Prior to this, she has many years of business development experience within international trade and investment organisations, including Schneider, PowerPlant, Invest in Denmark and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She holds a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Business Administration. Additionally, Christina is actively supporting local business as mentor for local founders and through her work at a variety of advisory boards.

Philippa Martinelli, FinTech Bridge Advisor, Department of International Trade

Philippa is an Advisor and FinTech Specialist for the UK Department for International Trade, consulting on implementing approaches to innovation and securing the ongoing prosperity of the sector. She leads on initiatives including FinTech Bridges, Leading Edge and the US-UK Financial Innovation Partnership, and works closely with the FinTech Strategic Review implementation and responses to C-19. Philippa engages with governments and regulators globally to reduce market access, policy and regulatory barriers for businesses and to promote collaboration and competition. She also works directly with firms, supporting companies with strategic development, building partnerships and scaling internationally. Since beginning her career with Merrill Lynch, Philippa’s work has spanned financial services, entrepreneurship, international business development, policy, investment, business strategy, and corporate innovation.

Philippa will discuss the evolution of UK FinTech to its current position as a leading global hub, touching upon the supportive policy and regulatory frameworks that helped to enable this change. She will also discuss the business context and opportunities as well as future evolution of the sector. The Department for International Trade is committed to ensuring that the UK is a FinTech growth country of choice for businesses from around the world – this can only be achieved by close bilateral and multilateral collaboration with counterparts and key stakeholders in international markets.

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Irina Mnohoghitnei, Bank of England

Irina Mnohoghitnei is a Senior Fintech Specialist in the Bank of England’s Fintech Hub. She is leading the Fintech Hub’s assessment of how fintech is impacting the business models of incumbent institutions, including through initiatives such as Open Banking. Previously, she worked in the Digital Currencies Team leading research into Distributed Ledger Technology. Before joining the Bank, Irina led regulatory change projects in a top-tier investment bank. Irina has a Computer Science background, having received her BSc and MSc from University College London.

Irina will talk about the UK fintech sector and the Bank of England’s approach to embrace fintech and enable innovation. Fintech touches on almost everything the Bank does and in order to embrace its full potential the Banks seeks to understand how fintech developments may affect systemic stability and the safety and soundness of firms. Fintech is supporting UK’s shift to a digital economy by enabling new players and business models to enter the market. This could increase competition, meet unfulfilled customer needs, reduce inefficiencies and create a more efficient, effective and resilient financial system overall. Effective regulation, supported by clear allocation of supervisory responsibilities encourages, rather than holds back, innovation and competition.

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Martin Cook, Head of Fintech, Burges Salmon

Martin is Head of Fintech, and a director in the technology and financial services practices at Burges Salmon, a leading independent UK law firm.

Previously, Martin held senior positions in global fintechs, including as General Counsel at WorldRemit and Global Head of Legal & Regulatory at Funding Circle. He also worked at leading law firms, advising significant financial institutions and corporates, and technology and private equity firms.

Martin has been involved in numerous pan-industry initiatives (principally in the UK, EU and USA) to support the development of the fintech and financial services industry as a whole. This included work on peer-to-peer and crowdfunding regulation, tax policy and international trade. The UK Government appointed Martin a founding member of the FinTech Delivery Panel, a body established to enhance the UK’s position as a global leader in the future of financial services.

During the event, Martin will highlight learnings from his experiences of working in UK-headquartered fintech companies and give his views on the UK fintech environment and some practical pointers when assessing overseas expansion.

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Carly Nimmo, Head of Fintech and Competition policy, HM Treasury

Carly Nimmo is Head of Fintech and Competition policy at HM Treasury. She leads the development of UK fintech policy, covering a range of business and regulatory issues to foster innovation and competition in financial services and maintain the UK’s competitive edge as a financial services leader. She leads for HM Treasury on a range of projects to boost fintech growth including Open Banking and Smart Data initiatives and the UK’s Fintech Delivery Panel. She has previously worked in a range of policy roles across the UK Civil Service.

Growth of the UK fintech sector is a key priority for HM Treasury and Carly will discuss the UK’s next steps to supporting scaling firms, including the findings of the recent Kalifa Review of UK Fintech.

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