Bruce Weatherill, Master of Ceremonies

Bruce is a Chartered Accountant with over 35 years’ financial services industry experience around the world. He was a partner in PwC for 20 years and is now a non-executive director of Compeer as well as other companies.

James Brown, Compeer

James joined Compeer in October 2006 as an analyst following his graduation from The University of Warwick, where he studied Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics.  Today he manages Compeer’s team of analysts. He has widely presented key trends in the UK Wealth Management Industry, with in-depth experience of providing statistical analysis of firms’ business performance. He regularly provides recommendations during presentations to Executive boards, and is actively involved in bespoke research projects.

John Barrass, PIMFA

John Barrass joined PIMFA (formerly the Wealth Management Association (WMA)) as Deputy Chief Executive in July 2007.

As part of his work he runs PIMFA interests in Public Policy and Government Relations, including Brexit, EU related business and anti-financial crime activity.

Prior to joining PIMFA, John was Head of CFA Institute Centre for Financial Market Integrity in EMEA which followed over 12 years running international regulatory policy for the UK Government, the Securities and Investments Board, and the Financial Services Authority.

He spent the first 12 years of his career in HM Diplomatic Service immersed in Soviet and East European Affairs but with the fall of the Berlin Wall felt that it was time to move on.

John was educated at Cambridge University, England, and has a Masters degree from the University of Essex.

Sir Ivan Rogers

Sir Ivan Rogers is a former British Civil Servant. Until 2017 he was the UK’s Permanent Representative to the EU. Sir Ivan is one of the UK’s foremost experts on the European Union and the issues arising from Brexit.

Sir Ivan joined the civil service in 1986. He initially served in the Treasury, during which time he was Private Secretary to then Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke, and Director of European Strategy and Policy under then Chancellor Gordon Brown. In 2003, Sir Ivan was chosen as the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. After three years in this role, he left the civil service in 2006 to become Head of the UK Public Sector Group at Citigroup. In 2010 he transferred to be Head of the Public Sector Industry Group, UK and Ireland, at Barclays Capital.

In 2012, he returned to the civil service as Prime Minister David Cameron’s Adviser for Europe and Global Issues and the Head of the European and Global Issues Secretariat, then becoming the senior British diplomat at the EU in 2013. Sir Ivan has almost unrivalled expertise on EU processes and instincts. He speaks out frankly and with authority against what he sees as the UK Government’s uncertainty on Brexit.

Abhijit Rawal, KPMG

Abhijit is a Partner in KPMG’s Global Strategy Group and leads our long-term savings and wealth management strategy practice.

Abhijit has over 13 years of global industry and advisory experience in retail financial services including wealth management. From a functional perspective, Abhijit is an applied customer strategist and takes a customer-first lens to help organisations design and execute pragmatic strategies.

He has extensive experience in advising retail and private banks, insurers, wealth & asset managers and fintech firms. He has advised on a range of agendas including; evolving customer needs, transforming their business and operating models for the digital age, addressing M&A opportunities, responding to strategic regulation and improving financial performance. Abhijit has shaped and led several large and complex multi-disciplinary assignments in retail financial services and wealth management.

Most recently, Abhijit has been at the forefront of working with a number of organisations on the digital transformation agenda, which includes designing digital and hybrid customer engagement models, transforming the front office for the digital age, reimagining financial advice in the open era of financial services, developing greenfield businesses and helping organisations developing integrated Digital 2.0 strategies. This has helped those organisations to deliver better customer outcomes in the backdrop of structural challenges to industry economics and high regulatory scrutiny.

Prior to joining KPMG, Abhijit worked with PwC, Deloitte, Standard Chartered Bank and Diageo.

Robert Rubinstein, TBLI Group

Mr. Rubinstein is the Chairman and Founding Partner of TBLI Group Holdings B.V. with headquarters in The Netherlands. The Company was founded in 1998 with the mission of integrating ESG and TBLI into the culture and strategy of international corporate business and investment companies. Mr. Rubinstein has been instrumental in championing Sustainable and IMPACT investment dedicated to solving social issues.

Prior to TBLI, Mr. Rubinstein had an extensive career in publishing. He founded the first bicycle magazine in The Netherlands, FIETS in 1981, and Source magazine in 1995, a publication focused on integrating “profits and principles” as a message to the business community. FIETS and Source were based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. FIETS was sold to VNU Magazines and it is still in circulation today.

Mr. Rubinstein taught courses in Sustainable Finance at the Rotterdam School of Management from 2003–2006 and in his career has delivered many lectures at international business schools and universities.

Mr. Rubinstein has served on various profit and nonprofit boards, and advises various organizations; i.e. International Center for Corporate Accountability, WETV editorial advisory board, IMSA (International Sustainability Consultancy), Chairman Swift Prize of the King Boudewijn Foundation, 3IG-International
Interfaith Investment Group, Fortis Investments SRI fund., ICCA Advisory Board, and the Developments Alternatives Advisory Council. He was also a board member of the ASN Foundation, for nearly 10 years. At present, he is on Advisory Board of Project X Global and Lifestyles Magazine.

Rubinstein is a tenacious public speaker on both TBLI and ESG at global conferences and has been asked to speak at numerous engagements including the Global Reporting Initiative, the inaugural Impact Investing Israel Summit and World Pension Council in Singapore. TBLI was asked to organize a session at COP21, Paris in December 2015 and more recently, Mr. Rubinstein was invited at the request of Natural Step, a leading advisor on Sustainability for the Swedish corporate sector attended by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

Peter Tyler, UK Finance

As Director, Conduct and Savings Policy – Peter leads policy work focused on; conduct regulation, retail savings and investments, financial capability/inclusion and customers in vulnerable circumstances.

He also supports UK Finance’s work on Private Banking and Wealth Management business and maintains active senior level engagement across members, regulators, politicians and consumer advocates.

Peter joined UK Finance at inception having transferred from the British Bankers Association (BBA) where he worked for 10 years.

Peter’s responsibilities as Senior Policy Director at the BBA included retail savings and investments distribution/advice and relations with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Before joining the BBA he spent seven years in retail supervision at the Financial Services Authority, covering a broad range of sectors including; private banking, wealth management, fund management and stockbroking.

Prior to that Peter worked in investment banking for ten years in a number of debt and derivatives trading roles and completed his MBA at the CASS Business School in 1999.

Mark Loosmore, IRESS

Mark has over 25 years of experience in the Financial Services Technology market, working for NCR, AT&T and Focus before setting up AT8 Group, a specialist IT/ecommerce consultancy for financial services. During his time at AT8, Mark wrote a weekly technology column for Professional Adviser and appeared regularly on the conference speaking circuit. Mark joined IRESS in November 2011 as part of the UK executive team and currently leads the UK Wealth division of IRESS.

George Parker, Financial Times

George Parker is the Political Editor of the Financial Times, a post he has held since 2007. He has covered British politics at Westminster since 1990, with a front row seat in the political demise of Margaret Thatcher, the turbulent John Major years, the Blair-Brown era and David Cameron’s coalition. He was nominated as Political Correspondent of the Year in 2010, was chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in the same year. He is a respected commentator and writer on political affairs and is a presenter of Radio 4’s Week in Westminster and What the Papers Say.

Prior to his posting at Westminster, George was the FT’s bureau chief in Brussels from 2002-2007 and retains a close interest in Britain’s relations with the EU. In earlier jobs, he worked as a member of Robert Peston’s FT political team from 1995-1999 and was the Western Morning News Political Editor before that.

He is a keen cyclist, footballer and follower of Crystal Palace FC and Somerset county cricket club. He grew up in Guildford and on a farm in Devon, went to Tiverton comprehensive school and Queen Mary, London University. He is married to Gabrielle with three children and lives in Kew.

Michael Hall, Jefferies International

Michael Hall joined Jefferies in September of 2018 as COO and Head of Wealth Management London. He brings more than 30 years of leadership and success in financial services.

Michael began his career in the financial industry in 1987 at Morgan Stanley in the Finance function. Subsequently he worked in Operations, as head of futures and options clearing, head of global custody for the investment bank and finally as head of continental European Operations based in Frankfurt.  He then moved from head of global Wealth Management Operations to COO of Wealth Management EMEA, managing the business with locations in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Italy as well as the UK. He served as a director of Morgan Stanley Bank International Ltd and Quilter and Co Ltd.

After 24 years at Morgan Stanley, in 2011 Michael joined Deutsche Bank as COO of Wealth Management UK.  In this role he was also a director and COO of Tilney. Subsequently, he took the role of Business Risk Manager for global Deutsche Bank Wealth Management.

Michael holds an MA from the University of Oxford and is a prizewinning accountant.

Jonathan Polin, Sanlam UK

Jonathan became CEO of the Sanlam UK Group in January 2016 with a clear brief to create a business that is recognised for the quality of its advice, asset and discretionary fund management services. He believes passionately in the value of both financial planning and wealth management, and his goal is for Sanlam to become a UK market leader. Previously, Jonathan served in the army, followed by 26 years working with Prudential, Aberdeen Asset Management, Britannic and, most recently, Ashcourt Rowan where he oversaw its rejuvenation and sale in 2015.

Daniel Freedman, London & Capital

Daniel has been one of Europe’s leading wealth managers of the last 30 years, having created one of the UK’s largest independently owned investment firms.

A specialist in managing US-connected wealth, he set up London & Capital’s US Family Office several years ago, which now manages approximately $1bn of assets on behalf of American families globally.

As well as leading the firm’s US offering, he is also responsible for the corporate strategy of the Group.

Denis Nagy, Dolfin

As CEO of Dolfin, Denis is responsible for both strategic and operational management of the firm. He has considerable experience in wealth management, investment banking and related regulatory matters acquired during a career in finance dating back to 2005.

Before establishing Dolfin, Denis was co-founder and CEO of a London-based, FSA-regulated investment boutique – which he sold to a Swiss private bank in 2012.

Prior to that, Denis worked – first with Sberbank then Credit Agricole Group’s Calyon unit – in a variety of project and structured finance roles. He dealt with major oil & gas and metals & mining companies and was responsible for business development, in-depth financial analysis and management of corporate loans portfolios.

With a particular interest in how technology is shaping the future of finance, Denis is a frequent speaker at finance and technology conferences worldwide.

Denis holds an MSc in Finance from London Business School. He is fluent in English, Hungarian and Russian.