Virtual Event: Understanding Customer Vulnerability – A Guide for Firms Launch

Paul Geddes joined Evelyn Partners in July 2023 and was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer on 6 October 2023.  He is a Trustee of the educational charity Teach First.

He was previously CEO of QA Group, a leading provider of higher education and digital and technology learning programmes and services, owned by CVC. Prior to that, Paul spent ten years as CEO of Direct Line, the FTSE 250 insurance group. Having been CEO of the insurance division of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which included the Direct Line, Churchill, Privilege, Green Flag and NIG brands, he was responsible for splitting the division off from the bank and leading the successful IPO of Direct Line Group in 2012. During his time at Direct Line Group he was Deputy Chairman of the Association of British Insurers and was a member of the FCA Practitioner Panel, and was twice voted Insurance CEO of the year by his peers.

He was also CEO of RBS’ Retail Bank in the UK Mainland, including NatWest, and a member of the RBS Group Executive Committee. Before joining RBS, he held a number of marketing roles with well-known retail and FMCG brands. Paul studied PPE at Oxford.

Graeme Reynolds is the FCA’s Director of Competition responsible for the FCA’s competition work.  Graeme has been at the FCA since 2014. Prior to his current role Graeme was the FCA’s Deputy Chief Economist and Head of Department for Economic and Financial Analysis for five years, having previously been a manager in the FCA’s Competition Division. Before joining the FCA, Graeme spent nearly ten years at the Competition Commission (now the Competition and Markets Authority) as Director of Remedies, Business and Financial Analysis, and as an Economic Adviser. Graeme’s experience also includes five years as an economic consultant with Deloitte and Andersen.

Alex joined PIMFA in June 2017 as a Policy Adviser, where she works on a wide range of regulatory matters, engaging with policy makers and the regulator to promote members’ interests.

She previously worked for the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) in the same capacity. APFA merged with the Wealth Management Association (WMA) to form PIMFA.

Alex has a legal background, having studied law at Cambridge University and was called to the Bar in 1997. She was a tenant at Lamb Chambers, Temple where she specialised in personal injury claims, contractual disputes and professional negligence. Alex has experience of advisory, drafting and court work including appearances in the Court of Appeal, the High Court and county courts.

Liz joined PIMFA (then known as the Wealth Management Association) as Chief Executive in 2014.

She has 30 years financial services experience, 19 of which as a Chief Executive. She successfully transformed and advised several businesses through redefining strategy, re-branding, change management and inspirational leadership, creating profitable businesses.

She has substantive experience of people and corporate culture risk, regulatory knowhow across the industry – banking, insurance and wealth management and providing good practice guidelines for the industry to adopt.

She is an accredited coach and industry leader encouraging collaborative participation of diverse groups of industry experts to address sector challenges and to leverage industry resources for collective benefit.

Liz holds a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck.

Stuart is a sales and distribution professional with 24 years’ experience working in the financial advice sector across directly authorised, introduced and appointed representative business models.

As Managing Director of The Openwork Partnership, Stuart is the Executive responsible for the commercial relationships with Openwork’s 730 appointed representative firms and its additional businesses 2plan and Owl Financial. He holds SMF responsibility for proposition, marketing, recruitment, and advice distribution, and is a board director of Openwork Limited and 2plan Wealth Management, the group’s two regulated distribution entities.

Stuart started his career as a financial adviser at Britannia Building Society and Legal and General before moving into senior management roles where he was responsible for key national distribution relationships. For the eight years prior to joining Openwork in February 2022, he was Managing Director of Newcastle Financial Advisers Ltd, one of The Openwork Partnership’s largest Partner advice businesses. Additionally, during 2020 and 2021 Stuart also chaired the Openwork LLP Shareholder Council, which represents the shareholder interests of LLP member-owners, and was a director of Openwork Holdings Ltd.

Richard Flynn is an experienced financial professional with over 20 years of experience in equity markets (specializing in US investing) and the delivery of financial advice. He has been with Charles Schwab for over 14 years and for the last six years has served as Chief Executive of its UK retail business, Charles Schwab UK.

Prior to joining Schwab, Richard worked in numerous financial firms, delivering financial advice to investors and professionals across the UK and Ireland. A law graduate of University College Dublin, Richard has studied at the Wharton School and holds a diploma in Private Client Investment Advice and Management through the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Sarah is Chief Risk Officer and joined Rathbones in March 2015.  She worked for NatWest and RBS group for over 30 years, including 13 years at Coutts.

Sarah’s career turned to risk management in the 1990s and she worked in Switzerland for three years as the chief risk officer for Coutts’ international private banking business.  She moved to the Non Core division of RBS in 2010 and most recently provided risk oversight of RBS’ transformation programme.

Sarah has an MBA with a dissertation on operational risk management and she is a member of the Institute of Risk Management. She joined the Group Executive Committee in July 2015.

Tracy joined City Asset Management in 2012, after qualifying as a solicitor at Freshfields in 2006 and subsequently spending 10 years on the equity trading floor at Morgan Stanley. As a member of the Risk and Compliance team at CAM, Tracy particularly enjoys client interaction and spearheads a number of regulatory initiatives, including vulnerable persons and consumer duty. Tracy has 3 teenage daughters, 2 dogs and 2 guinea pigs and enjoys cooking for them all.

Trisha Horncastle is a Compliance Technical Manager at abrdn, where she has worked for the past ten years. Trisha has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry and has been involved in the implementation of many regulatory changes over those years. With a particular interest in retail clients and vulnerable customers, the most recent change has been the FCA’s Consumer Duty. Trisha has been involved with the Consumer Duty since the initial consultation was published and was one of the main compliance advisory leads within abrdn. More recently she has facilitated, co-ordinated and acted as a compliance SME across the implementation projects in abrdn.

In her spare time, Trisha enjoys socialising with friends and family and walking with her husband and their schnoodle dog, Flo.

David joined Brooks Macdonald in 2017 and supports and develops intermediary relationships throughout the UK. He is also a key member of our Vulnerable Client Working Group and is responsible for promoting the best routes to financial advice for vulnerable individuals.

Prior to joining Brooks Macdonald, David worked as an Investment Consultant, and at Aviva UK Life and Pensions as a Sales Consultant. He has over 25 years’ experience working in sales in the financial services industry.

Zoe is a Risk Assurance Director with over 20 years’ internal audit, risk management and governance experience. Zoe leads and manages a large number of engagements withing the financial services industry, including in the wealth space.

She is the voice of conduct related matters and led RSM’s approach to assurance activity regarding the Consumer Duty.

Liz joined PIMFA (then known as the Wealth Management Association) as Chief Executive in 2014.

She has 30 years financial services experience, 19 of which as a Chief Executive. She successfully transformed and advised several businesses through redefining strategy, re-branding, change management and inspirational leadership, creating profitable businesses.

She has substantive experience of people and corporate culture risk, regulatory knowhow across the industry – banking, insurance and wealth management and providing good practice guidelines for the industry to adopt.

She is an accredited coach and industry leader encouraging collaborative participation of diverse groups of industry experts to address sector challenges and to leverage industry resources for collective benefit.

Liz holds a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck.