TISA Vulnerability Conference

Jo leads the FCA's Consumer Policy and Outcomes Department. She is responsible for coordinating the FCA’s cross-cutting Consumer Duty work, as well as leading on vulnerability, financial inclusion, and partnership work with consumer organisations. She has been at the FCA for nine years, and previously led work on the FCA's flagship Financial Lives Survey, its response to the rising cost of living, the development of a new streamlined financial advice framework, as well as the introduction of a new policy framework for the statutory regulation of pre-paid funeral plan providers. She played a key role in the FCA’s policy and operational preparations for Brexit. Before joining the FCA Jo worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She holds a PhD in European Politics.

I have worked in Financial Services for 25 years, building my career within Quilter. For the past 7 years I have had the role of Vulnerable Customer Specialist, helping our teams to understand the broad nature of vulnerability and how we can best support our customers

Our research at Fair4All Finance has identified at least 20 million people in financially vulnerable circumstances in the UK today. Diane leads a team working to transform the market to test and deliver the right products and services to all customers who need them. A significant part of her career was dedicated to the Community Finance sector serving the hardest to reach customers. Diane is a trustee of the Centre for Responsible Credit and a Senior Fellow of The Finance Innovation Lab.

Matt is a Conduct Risk and Consumer Duty SME, with over 20 years of experience helping financial services institutions to understand and respond to major regulatory change. Over the past 3 years he has worked with a wide range of clients across all sectors of the industry to help shape responses to the Consumer Duty and improve outcomes for consumers with characteristics of vulnerability. His work has encompassed refining vulnerability frameworks and strategies and supporting the enhancement of outcomes monitoring and testing frameworks to identify specific outcomes delivered to vulnerable customers

Previously, she was CEO of Money Advice Trust, the charity running National Debtline and Business Debtline, whose vision is to help people across the UK to tackle their debts and manage their money with confidence. Joanna is a director of the financial services trade association UK Finance, representing vulnerable consumers and Chair of the Advisory Board at Birmingham University’s Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management. She is also a Chartered Director and a Director of Fair 4 All Finance, which is using dormant assets to increase financial inclusion. She lives in North London with her husband, Simon Horne, who is a Headteacher, and their three daughters. In her spare time she reads, sings, cycles and climbs Munros.

With over 20 years’ experience of Financial Services in various roles, Andy has always been most passionate about improving outcomes for people. His work as Vulnerable Customers Lead at Fidelity has been his most rewarding work to date, focussing on customers with additional needs and the impact that exposure to sensitive and distressing customer situations has on his colleagues. Fidelity has won several awards and been accredited with the Inclusive Service Kitemark for its work in this area, which Andy and his team are very proud to have been at the forefront of delivering. Andy plays an active part in industry working groups on the subject of vulnerable customers and is delighted to be invited to take part in this panel and share his experiences with colleagues across the industry.

Jo has a rich background in both education and financial services. Initially working with neurodivergent and trauma-affected children, she developed strong empathy and support skills. Transitioning to financial services five years ago, Jo began at Fidelity's contact centre and quickly advanced to the Vulnerable Customer Team three years ago. In this role, Jo has been focused on developing and implementing processes that support vulnerable clients, efforts that have been recognized and awarded within the industry. Along side her work as a mental health first aider and grief first aider, Jo brings a compassionate approach to her work, consistently striving to make a positive impact.

Helen Lord is the CEO of the Vulnerability Registration Service (VRS) which is a data sharing platform for vulnerable individuals to alert service providers to the challenges they fact in order to get the appropriate support and customer journeys. VRS’s aim is to ensure a central and streamlined route to allow vulnerable individuals to communicate regardless of sector. Helen also campaigns for additional support for Unpaid Carers. Helen has a compliance background, particularly in data protection and worked for a credit reference agency for 20 years in consumer, compliance and fraud related roles.

After many years of experience working within sectors such as Horeca, Telecoms and Retail, amongst others, Chris joined BSI in 2018 heading up our Consumer Promise offering and due to his extensive work in this field, is now a Global Senior Product Specialist. Operating exclusively to help organisations certify the promises they are making to customers, Chris has worked with brands such as Fidelity, DFS and Morrisons to enable them to utilise the power of the Kitemark™, to give trust and confidence to their claims around vulnerable consumers, carbon neutrality and safety.

With 20 years’ experience in the Financial Industry, Maxine has found her passion working to ensure that no one is left behind, irrespective of their circumstances and that everyone has fair access to banking. Leading on HSBC UK’s financial inclusion and vulnerability strategy for the last eight years, Maxine sets the expected standards and works with the business to ensure products and services are accessible to everyone. Partnering with external organisations and charities, Maxine’s team has delivered several initiatives to include, the provision of bank accounts for those without a fixed address and those who have survived Human Trafficking/Modern Slavery, the Independence Service to help those with reduced mental capacity remain financially independent for longer and the introduction of Safe Spaces into the branch network.

Kilver is a customer-obsessed, delivery-focused leader who is passionate about growing individuals to reach their full potential. Leading globally 1500 colleagues across 7 sites who help our most vulnerable customers in the UK. Those in financial difficulty (1 in 200 customers in the UK face financial difficulty) across all products, customers / non customers who’ve lost a loved one (team support 1 in 5 deaths in the UK) as well as putting support in place for those that can no longer manage financial affairs independently. Also leads teams that support / help customers who’ve suffered from extreme distress such as domestic / economic abuse, severe mental health issues and threat to life – work in partnership with the industry best – Samaritans, Citizen advice Bureau, SEA (Surviving Economic Abuse). With over 25 years of experience in financial services, Kilver utilises her in-depth knowledge across operations, customer experience, transformation, propositions and design to be a thought leader and strategic business growth driver across the industry.

With 16 years of experience in the financial industry, Ben has held various roles at Lloyds Banking Group, including Customer Financial Assistance, Customer Service and Complaint Management, where he managed press and MP enquiries. Currently, Ben is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to support vulnerable customers. Ben's career has been characterised by a commitment to drive positive outcomes for both the bank and its customers.

As Policy Director at TISA, Lisa has emerged as one of the leading voices in Consumer Duty, having brought together the industry to produce a comprehensive Best Practice Guide, and currently working to bring about a standardised framework for data sharing across the distribution chain. Lisa also leads TISA work on vulnerability, an area which she is particularly passionate about, having had lived experience. Lisa is an experienced outsourcing, risk and CASS specialist with over 25 years’ experience in financial services, with a particular focus on client protection. She has held senior roles encompassing oversight of outsourced delivery of services within the asset management sector to both retail and professional clients, and held the role of CF10a, an FCA approved role responsible for compliance to Client Asset Protection. Prior to this she held senior roles in a large outsourcing service provider, including as a Lead Client Relationship Manager responsible for delivering services appropriate for a regulated firm, and leading large operational finance teams based in the UK and India. She has significant experience in implementing oversight and risk management frameworks to effectively identify and manage the risks associated with outsourcing and offshoring regulated activities. During her time as a CF10a, she took a key role in a joint client/service provider remediation programme, gaining valuable experience and insight into meeting the regulators expectation in relation to service providers performance, and regulated firms oversight of its outsourcing arrangements. She has a breadth of regulatory knowledge, in particular with a deep understanding of SYSC; CASS; COBs; COLL; MiFID; and MiFID II and is accomplished in assisting senior managers to Board level in understanding regulatory obligations.