Christopher Owers

“Very exciting times to be in the Audit profession!” Yesterday, Tom Edwards hosted a panel discussion on IA vs AI with Audit, AI & Data Science experts Stephen Magora (Managing Director, Citi), Mariia Kabrina 🇺🇦 (Senior Data Science Manager, Lloyds Banking Group) and Jamie Crossman-Smith (Founder, Bloch.ai). And the overriding message was clear: there’s nothing to be afraid of. In fact, these are very exciting times for auditors. We delved into the integration of AI & Data Science into Internal Audit, the need for auditors to upskill and adapt to the evolving technological landscape, and the potential of AI & Data Science to enhance Internal Audit through some real-world use cases.   Missed out? Catch up and watch the full webinar here: https://lnkd.in/eGV4ZdKZ #audit #internalaudit #ai #data #datascience #cybersecurity #risk #technology #innovation #webinar

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has introduced a revised Form A for applications pertaining to Senior Manager Function (SMF) and Controlled Function (CF), designed to enhance efficiency and streamline the completion process. Martin Lovick - Director of Capital Markets, guides us through the updates which include: replacing CV submissions with a comprehensive 10-year work history; enhancing functionality with attachment virus scanning; and streamlining Form A for improved navigation and enhanced support. Effective from 24 May 2024, this mandatory update is available for all standalone Form A applications. Read the full article here https://lnkd.in/gBaV-V7X #FCA #regulatoryupdate #compliance #cosegic 

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We had a great webinar today where we explored Credit Inclusion through alternative credit scoring. Thanks to James Hume and James Florence from Begini who joined Edward Cable and David Higgins from the Mifos Initiative. Their presentation captured the audience with the Begini solution and led to a great Q&A Session. If you didn't make it, you can catch the replay below. If you are interested in our joint credit inclusion programme you can find more details at www.Begini.co/mifos #mifos #begini #financialinclusion #creditinclusion #webinar

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According to the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC) there are still large skills gaps in talent across data, cyber and risk with these roles in the top 5 of difficult roles to fill for organisations in #FinancialServices. The report calls for firms to place skills as a "strategic business priority" in particular across the use of data at leadership level. You can read more insights into the impact of AI and current skills initiatives here: #finance #recruitment #dei #financialservices #data #risk

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Three in Four UK Financial Services Firms See Digital Trust as a Key Strategic Focus – Do You? https://lnkd.in/eK5sPkBE #UnlockingDigitalID #Videosign #IDverification #RemoteContracting

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Excellent top tips on the FCA authorisation process from Haydon Thomas

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🤝 Events and engagement 🕵‍♂️ Our Head of Supervision and Compliance Monitoring, Oliver Hanmer, was at the 19th NextGen Payments & RegTech Forum. He held an interactive session and Q&A on the role of strategic supervision and engagement in supporting UK payments now and for the future. QUBE Events 👨‍💻 Our Head of Strategy, Analysis and Engagement, Dan Moore, led a roundtable organised by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum – a think tank which focusses on central banking and economic policy. The topic was technology and its impact on payments – providing a great opportunity to discuss innovation in payments. OMFIF 👀 Take a look... 📊 Next month, we plan to publish data on the firms which are most commonly reported as enabling contact between fraudsters and victims. Ahead of publishing, we have written to the relevant firms, setting out the aims of publishing this data, how we collected the data, and future plans for publication. Firms have the opportunity to meet with us or share their comments on our plans to publish this data by 5pm on 4 December 2024. Written comments can be sent to [email protected]. You can read our letter here: https://lnkd.in/eNavVddX 🚨 Exciting job opportunities at the PSR! We’re looking for: -       APP scams policy specialists -       Press office and digital content specialist -       Price regulation policy senior associate -       Payments specialist -       Correspondence handling associate 👉 Apply now and help us make a difference! https://lnkd.in/dEfs_SRQ #hiring #jobsearch #innovation #fraudprevention #supervision #engagement

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Attention Financial Services Orgs: FCA Consumer Duty Deadline is approaching! 📢 The 31st July 2024 deadline for closed books compliance is just around the corner. Are you prepared? Key points to consider:  - This deadline applies to products and services held in closed books  - Firms need to review closed books and customer service processes  - Technology can help achieve compliance (e.g., call recording, speech analytics, data analytics) Don't wait until the last minute. Ensure your closed books meet FCA standards for consumer protection today. Read James Dodson, MBA, CMgr MCMI latest blog post to find out more: https://lnkd.in/gaH_hPwn #ConsumerDuty #FCA #FinancialServices #CustomerExperience #Compliance 

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🤯 What is your firm’s plan for maintaining critical operations through disruptions? With the FCA’s looming deadline of 31 March 2025 for payments firms to have fully embedded their operational resilience frameworks - now is the time to make sure your organisation is ready. 📖 So we've created the ultimate guide to help you prepare and be one step ahead of the deadline. Inside, you'll find: 💡 A step-by-step journey through the five key pillars of operational resilience 💡 What firms like yours should consider now to prepare for March 💡 Key regulatory updates - plus the benefits of horizon scanning in staying ahead of the curve ...and more! 👉 Get your copy: https://lnkd.in/etetj-Vy #operationalresilience #paymentsregulations #regulatoryupdates #horizonscanning #complianceguide

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Strategic technology integration and clearly defined advice propositions are two critical elements for building a successfully scaled advice model, Adviser Ratings unpacks. https://lnkd.in/eNniBG4d

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FBC digital meeting today, 23 April 2023, 2-3pm UK time: Evaluating Fund Board Effectiveness. As the regulatory demands on fund board directors continue to grow, how can fund boards reassure themselves that they are operating as effectively as possible? The meeting will explore how firms evaluate the performance of their boards, including in key areas such as; - the value of board reviews as a means of assessing board operations - nature and scope of these reviews - who’s involved - how the outputs are used. We also will share initial insights from FBC’s detailed research in this area and speak to two senior governance professionals who will provide their perspectives and examples of good practice when it comes to evaluating board effectiveness in the UK, Ireland and Luxembourg; Daniel Rotherford, Global Head of Product Management and Governance at HSBC Global Asset Management, and Frank Johnson, iNED Chair at First Sentier Investors (UK) Funds Ltd. FBC Corporate Members can still register here: https://lnkd.in/eYt7d6nN Shiv Taneja, Catherine Battershill, Brandon Horwitz, Simon Hynes, Peter Christmas, Fiona Evans

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🚀 Challenger Credit Bureau Infact Raises £4M, Secures Regulatory Approval 💼 Infact, a challenger credit bureau founded by @Runpath and Experian alumni, has raised £4M in Seed funding following its FCA authorisation. The round was led by AlbionVC, with participation from 13books Capital, Outward VC, and others. This funding will accelerate the development of their real-time credit bureau, designed to serve the digital financial services market. Infact addresses issues with legacy credit reference agencies, offering a real-time API that helps lenders improve lending performance and enables consumers to build credit profiles faster. The bureau is led by Will Mason and Andy Milligan, who have gathered a diverse team from major financial institutions. Jay Wilson, Partner at AlbionVC, praised the founders' vision and expertise: "We are thrilled to support them on their journey to become a leading global credit referencing agency." https://lnkd.in/dBhxGQkV #Fintech #CreditBureau #Infact #SeedFunding #FinancialInclusion

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Applications for the FinTech Scotland and Smart Data Foundry innovation call closing on Sunday. If you want to work with NatWest Group, PwC and Royal London to help people prepare for their later financial lives and be in for a chance to be awarded £50,000, apply today. There are many areas for opportunity that this challenge could focus on, for example: -building greater incentives into future financial products  -encouraging different behaviours from consumers from a young age to ensure consideration of their financial requirements as they mature to build financial resilience  -the adoption of AI and other emerging technology to garner insights from data to support digital financial advice https://lnkd.in/ewBe5bkw Kirsty McKenna Nicola Anderson Bryn Coulthard Frank Gauld

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🔍 Consumer Duty Examined: Unpacking the Gains and Gaps. Dive into the latest insights on how the FCA's Consumer Duty reshapes the financial landscape. Discover where firms excel and where improvement is crucial for consumer transparency and fairness. Don't miss out on critical updates as we approach significant regulatory milestones. 🔗https://lnkd.in/eF6ySz_F #ConsumerDuty #FinancialServices #RegulatoryCompliance Rohan Chakraborty, Thistle Initiatives Jennifer Cahill, Cosegic Lorraine Mouat, Thistle Initiatives Financial Conduct Authority

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Earlier this week, the FCA published its policy statement PS24/3 on Consumer Credit – Product Sales Data Reporting, following its Consultation Paper last year. The new rules mean the FCA will have more granular data to supervise the consumer credit sector. For firms, it will reduce the current burden of complex and frequent ad-hoc requests. However, their implementation effort should not be underestimated and it will open up a very different set of challenges from the FCA once they get access to this granular level data. These new requirements should be read alongside the FCA’s new capabilities of data analytics, allowing them to digest and interrogate massive data sets and spotting outliers in order to inform their supervision approach. Another step in their journey to become a data-led regulator. Some notable changes within the policy statement versus the initial CP proposals include: ➡ a change to thresholds for in-scope firms. Following feedback and further analysis, the FCA has increased the in-scope threshold from £500k to £2m; ➡ the implementation date has been changed, with smaller firms (£2m - £20m) given 20 months to implement the changes and the larger firms (£20m plus) have 14 months to implement; and ➡ the removal of certain data elements and addition of a further 68 data elements following feedback from firms and trade bodies which will assist in ensuring consistency. The FCA has also clarified, that it will not be de-scoping premium finance from the scope of the return. Instead, the FCA has made some minor changes to the required data to make it more tailored to premium finance providers. Overall, the policy statement is a step in the right direction, and the FCA has acknowledged the complexities within the consumer credit market and reflected these in the new rules. The rules come into force from Q3 2025 for larger firms and Q1 2026 for smaller firms. Firms should start reviewing what they need to do now to meet the deadline and would be well advised to mock up the reporting now to reflect on the conclusions the FCA might draw when they get the data. 📨 Please reach out to the team if you would like to discuss the impact on your business. Philip Salter, Thominah T., Nadege Genetay Michael Sicsic

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📣 Call for Contributions: Financial Services Research Conference https://lnkd.in/deFdkq8c 📅 14 November 2024 🧑🏻‍🤝‍🧑🏿 In-person event 📍 London   There’s a lot to unpack at this year’s Market Research Society (MRS) Financial Services Research Conference! Competition is growing, customers are expecting more and keeping them loyal is tough. The new Consumer Duty has focused financial services providers on demonstrably delivering good customer outcomes, while #behavioural science, #AI and data driven #insights are increasingly supporting better understanding, communicating and serving of #customers. This year, we want to showcase the methodologies that have been powering the best customer and consumer insights and discoveries across the financial services sector. So, if you have valuable insights, innovative methodologies, or compelling case studies to share, we invite you to submit your proposals for the Financial Services Research Conference 2024! Interested❓ Please submit a brief synopsis (approx. 200 words) for consideration to [email protected]. 👉 Submission deadline: Thursday 11 July 2024 ℹ️ More information: https://lnkd.in/deFdkq8c #c4c #callforcontributions #financialconference #mrx #submissions #marketresearch #customerinsights #consumerinsights #casestudy

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