Following the Rules

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

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.

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.

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; and
Tom 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.

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

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.

 

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