ESMA chair Verena Ross on her to-do list for 2025, simplifying the EU financial rulebook, and life at the helm of the watchdog
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
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44:51
Capstone's Mathew Gilbert on navigating Trump 2.0, and the regulatory changes needed to drive "tangible" growth in the UK and EU
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...
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27:05
Governance expert Vera Cherepanova on why ethics and compliance professionals need a more influential voice in the boardroom, and the obstacles standing in their way
Today’s guest is on a mission to bring ethics and compliance to the top table.
She explains why ethics and compliance professionals should be given a seat in the boardroom and what’s stopping them from getting there.
She also discusses how businesses and their compliance executives can best navigate today’s increasingly fragmented regulatory environment, and she shares practical steps boards can take to embrace ESG and DEI principles amidst ongoing backlash without getting caught in the crossfire.
Vera Cherepanova has spent two decades working in audit, compliance, and ethics, including roles at global professional services firm EY and as an independent adviser to companies worldwide. Since 2024, she has worked as the executive director of Boards of the Future, a nonprofit working with boards, professionals, and investors in the US, UK, and EU to ensure ethics, compliance, and risk experts have a voice in corporate governance.
Short on time? You can read the episode highlights on the FT's Banking, Risk and Regulation...
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26:51
TP ICAP's Nik Bunney on rethinking surveillance at the world’s largest interdealer broker and what the City needs from the FCA on non-financial misconduct
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
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32:20
Melissa Gallagher, JP Morgan's EMEA head of compliance, on future-proofing the back office amidst technological and regulatory change
Today’s guest outlines how the compliance function, and those working within it, can best navigate today’s rapidly changing technological and regulatory environment.
She discusses the industry's response to increasing regulatory scrutiny around surveillance as well as on bankers’ non-financial misconduct.
And she explains why in amongst all the change it is critical that compliance officers do not to lose sight of the “foundational building blocks” of their role.
Melissa Gallagher has spent 30 years working in various compliance roles most recently at large US banks in London. With a background in sales and trading compliance, she has run the compliance and operational risk function in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for US banking giant JP Morgan since 2019.
An insider’s guide to the laws dictating life within UK and EU financial services, the people influencing their development and policing finance workers’ compliance
Ireland