The Investing and Saving Alliance (TISA) will bring together leaders from across all sectors of the UK financial services industry and policymakers to explore the themes shaping the future of our sector. As we undergo digital transformation and major regulatory reforms, we will examine how firms can adapt and innovate while guaranteeing strong consumer protections to achieve good customer outcomes.
This year’s programme addresses some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing firms and consumers alike. We will explore the economic reality of household finances, deliberating on how Targeted Support and Simplified Advice frameworks can be utilised to overcome the barriers to investing. We will look at the transition from predictive AI to Agentic AI in financial services, assessing how it can help firms streamline operations and improve individual financial wellbeing. Finally, we will take a macro-perspective on long-term savings to debate what further measures are required to ensure good retirement outcomes.
Through debates, expert-led discussions and opportunities to have your say, the conference is designed to challenge thinking, encourage collaboration and share practical insights. Join your peers to explore the issues that matter most today, and the priorities that will shape our industry tomorrow.
Free for TISA members
Non-members: £480 (VAT Exempt)
10 Godliman Street, London, EC4V 5AJ
For any enquiries about this event please email events@tisa.uk.com
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
Director of Consumer Investments, FCA
Multi-award-winning Finance Broadcaster and Journalist
Partner, S&W
Head of Data & AI Enablement, S&W
Chief Executive Officer, Margetts
CEO, Alpaca Europe
Co-Founder, and Chief Marketing Officer, Chip
Senior Investment Strategist, Vanguard
CEO, Interactive Brokers UK
CEO/GM Wealth, Monzo
Chair of Financial Technology (FinTech), University of Birmingham
Chief Customer Officer, Foresters Financial
Director Government Affairs & Public Policy, Blackrock
Head of Policy, Pensions & Investments, Scottish Widows
Corporate Director of Strategy & Impact, MaPS
Chief Investment Officer, Rathbones
Director of Policy and Research, Cushon
Chairman, TISA
Head of Policy: Consumer Protection & Access, TISA
Head of Policy: Products & Long-Term Savings, TISA
Policy Executive, TISA
Policy Executive, TISA
Technical Manager/Trainer, TISA
09:30 – 10:15
10:15 – 10:20
Mark Westwell, Chairman, TISA
10:20 – 10:30
Georgie Frost, Multi-award-winning Finance Broadcaster and Journalist
10:30 – 10:45
The RT Hon Lucy Rigby KC MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury
10:45 – 11:15
Guy Swarbreck, Partner, S&W
11:15 – 12:00
While post-pandemic inflation has cooled in many countries, geopolitical developments continue to push up the cost of goods and services. This session explores how the industry can enable people to save and build financial resilience under these challenging circumstances. We will examine how major regulatory initiatives, such as Targeted Support and simplified advice frameworks, can help close the UK’s widening advice gap and deliberate about the broader measures required to overcome the barriers to investing and achieve better consumer outcomes.
Alex Latham, Co-Founder, and Chief Marketing Officer, Chip
Joanne Phillips, CEO/GM Wealth, Monzo
Karan Shanmugarajah, CEO, Alpaca Europe
Liz Michel, Chief Customer Officer, Foresters Life
Muirinn O’Neill, Director Government Affairs & Public Policy, Blackrock
Rich Watts, Corporate Director of Strategy & Impact, Money and Pensions Service (MaPS)
Sophie Legrand-Green, Head of Policy for Consumer Protection & Access, TISA (Moderator)
12:00 – 13:00
13:00 – 13:20
Toby Ricketts, CEO, Margetts
13:20 – 13:50
Join TISA’s Policy team for a fast-paced, interactive session covering the key regulatory and policy developments, including TISA’s strategic priorities.
Dave Beaston, Technical Manager/Trainer, TISA
Renny Biggins, Head of Policy for Products & Long-Term Savings, TISA
Steve Latto, Policy Executive,TISA
Sophie Legrand-Green, Head of Policy for Consumer Protection & Access, TISA
Phil Turnpenny, Policy Executive, TISA
13:50 – 14:30
AI is set to reshape financial services. As technology evolves, firms are moving from systems that recommend actions to autonomous systems empowered to take them. This panel explores what this shift means for firms’ future operations, customer engagement, and the changing nature of regulatory risks. We will discuss the opportunities for firms and consumers, including AI’s potential to streamline operations and improve the financial wellbeing of individuals by helping everyday customers make better financial decisions.
Mark Bowden, Head of Data & AI Enablement, S&W
Gerry Perez, CEO, Interactive Brokers UK
Professor Karen Elliott, Chair of Financial Technology (FinTech), University of Birmingham
Sophie Legrand-Green, Head of Policy for Consumer Protection & Access, TISA
14:30 – 15:00
15:00 – 15:40
Landmark regulatory initiatives like Targeted Support, Guided Retirement, and the pensions dashboard are reshaping the industry. During this session, we will discuss what further measures are required to help more people achieve good retirement outcomes. More importantly, we will explore how to achieve this in an increasingly challenging economic environment driven by persistent cost-of-living pressures.
Fu Tan, Ph.D., Senior Investment Strategist, Vanguard
Peter Glancy, Head of Policy, Pensions & Investments, Scottish Widows
Robert Sears, Chief Investment Officer, Rathbones
Steve Watson, Director of Policy and Research, Cushon
Renny Biggins, Head of Policy for Products & Long-Term Savings, TISA
15:40 – 16:00
Lucy Castledine, Director of Consumer Investments, FCA
16:00 – 16:20
The Rt Hon. The Lord Vaizey of Didcot
16:20 – 16:25
Georgie Frost, Multi-award-winning Finance Broadcaster and Journalist
16:25 – 16:30
Mark Westwell, Chairman, TISA
16:30 – 17:30
At S&W our mission is to help navigate challenges, unlock potential, and achieve the extraordinary.
As one of the UK and Ireland’s fastest growing accountancy and advisory firms, we’ve been there, as a trusted partner, helping businesses and individuals meet challenges and seize opportunities across generations.
In a world that is constantly evolving we help our clients thrive by simplifying the complex, illuminating new paths, and shaping solutions that really make a difference.
The Margetts name has been part of Birmingham business life since 1845, with a long heritage spanning investment services, fund management and governance.
Today, Margetts operates through two specialist business divisions: Margetts Fund Management and MGTS. Together, they provide investment management, Authorised Fund Management (AFM) and independent host Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) services to investors, advisers and fund sponsors across the UK.
Margetts Fund Management has over 30 years’ experience managing multi-manager investment solutions. MGTS (trading style of Margetts Fund Management Limited) has over 20 years’ experience providing independent host ACD and AFM services for third-party fund sponsors.
Through both divisions, Margetts remains focused on delivering strong governance, long-term thinking and client-centred solutions.
This information is for investment professionals only. MGTS is a trading style of Margetts Fund Management Limited. Margetts Fund Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN:208565). Registered in England and Wales No. 4158249. Registered Office: 1 Sovereign Court Graham Street, Birmingham, B1 3JR.
Alpaca is a US-headquartered, self-clearing broker-dealer providing global agent-first brokerage infrastructure that powers access to traditional and on-chain asset classes. Today, Alpaca supports over 10 million brokerage accounts across hundreds of fintechs and institutions in more than 40 countries, backed by $400 million in funding. For more information, visit alpaca.markets.
Help to Save is a Government-backed savings scheme designed to help people on low incomes build financial resilience through regular saving. Eligible customers can save between £1 and £50 each month into a Help to Save account and receive a tax-free government bonus of 50p for every £1 saved, worth up to £1,200 over four years. Savers do not need to pay in every month and can withdraw money if needed, although withdrawals may reduce the bonus received. The account remains open for four years, with bonus payments calculated at the end of years two and four.
The scheme is available to people receiving Universal Credit who had take-home pay of £1 or more in their last monthly assessment period. If a couple receive Universal Credit jointly, both can apply for their own account. Customers can continue using the account even if their circumstances change and they stop receiving Universal Credit.
tell. supports financial institutions across open banking, account verification and evolving smart data ecosystems throughout the UK and Europe. Our mission is to enable a truly open ecosystem that helps our customers and the community.
TeX is a not-for-profit member-based organisation established to facilitate the electronic transfer of wrappers and assets between wealth managers, platforms, fund managers and others on behalf of their customers. Eliminate the need for multiple contracts between companies when transferring. TeX currently has over 430 individual registrations from 155 unique member organisations.
Find out more at www.tisaexchange.co.uk.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
Lucy Rigby MP was appointed as Minister of State (Economic Secretary to the Treasury) in HM Treasury on 21 July 2026. She was previously Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 14 May 2026 to 21 July 2026, Parliamentary Secretary (Economic Secretary to the Treasury) at HM Treasury from 6 September 2025 to 14 May 2026 and Solicitor General between 2 December 2024 and 6 September 2025. She was elected as the MP for Northampton North in July 2024.
Director of Consumer Investments, FCA
Lucy has worked at the FCA since 2008 across a variety of different roles. The majority of her career has been spent in Supervision, but she also has extensive experience of designing and implementing policy, having overseen the implementation of the Mortgage Market Review and the overhaul of the financial promotions rules for high-risk investments. She also spent a year in Authorisations, as Head of Department for dual-regulated firms. Currently, Lucy is the Director of Consumer Investments. This includes the Supervision of Advisers and Intermediaries, Wealth Managers, Self-invested personal pensions, Crowdfunders, Peer to peer and Platform Firms. Lucy is also responsible for overseeing the policing of the FCA’s perimeter for unauthorised business, ensuring the FCA intervenes assertively on misleading Financial Promotions.
Ed Vaizey was appointed to the UK House of Lords in September 2020, where he sits as a Conservative Peer and is a member of the Communications and Digital Committee. Ed was the Member of Parliament for Wantage between 2005 and 2019. He served as the UK Government Culture and Digital Minister from 2010-16, and is the longest-serving Minister in that role. He was appointed a privy councillor in 2016. In his role as digital minister, Ed was responsible for the roll out of the successful rural broadband programme to more than 4 million homes, the introduction of 4G, and tax credits for film, television, animation and video games, which have helped make the creative industries the fastest growing part of the UK economy. In addition, he played a key role in putting coding in the national curriculum for schools, and in attracting inward investment to the UK tech economy. Ed also helped persuade Lucas Films to make the new Star Wars in the UK, and received a credit in the first film of the series
Multi-award-winning Finance Broadcaster and Journalist
Georgie is one of the UK’s leading financial broadcasters, a multi-award-winning presenter known for making money matters engaging, relatable and enjoyable. From hosting two of the UKs most popular finance podcasts: This is Money and Investing Unlocked, to her work with Times Money, and regular appearances across national radio and TV, Georgie is a familiar and trusted voice on consumer finance.
Partner at S&W
Guy is a Partner, head of S&W’s Financial Services sector and advises a diverse array of dynamic financial institutions.
He uses his deep understanding of the financial services market to provide audit, assurance and advisory services. He specialises in advising more complex financial institutions on financial, client money and commercial matters.
Guy regularly presents at industry groups on financial, regulatory and operational risk matters.
Head of Data & AI Enablement,
S&W
Mark leads our Data & AI Enablement practice and specialises in solving complex data, and technology challenges to improve operational efficiency and tackle regulatory requirements. His current focus areas include legacy technology modernisation & cloud migration, data & AI governance, AI enablement & operations, application development and reporting & analytics.
Mark and his team joined S&W in November 2025, bringing deep and broad technology delivery skills to the firm. Mark’s career spans over 25 years of experience in data, technology and AI, across global financial services, technology start-up and small & medium enterprises.
With experience working from board-level through to technology delivery teams, Mark has the ability to communicate complex technical challenges to senior leaders, whilst staying abreast of the detail and providing technical advice grounded in first-hand experience.
He has experience working with clients across UK, Europe and North America where he has helped them to leverage technology for commercial advantage in regulatory requirements, M&A and integrations, revenue growth and cost reduction.
Chief Executive Officer, Margetts
Toby joined Margetts in 1994 as an Investment Analyst, progressing to Chief Investment Officer before becoming CEO in 2011.
Over three decades, he has overseen the firm’s growth from £28 million to £16 billion in assets under management, helping establish Margetts as a leading UK fund manager and Authorised Corporate Director (ACD). He remains lead manager of the Margetts Risk Rated Funds, a position he has held for 25 years, and has steered the business through significant regulatory and industry change.
Outside work, Toby is a keen pilot, flying both aeroplanes and helicopters. His presentations often explore the parallels between aviation and financial services.
CEO, Alpaca Europe
Karan Shanmugarajah, CFA, is the CEO of Alpaca Europe, where he leads Alpaca’s regional
strategy, partnerships, and expansion across the UK and EU. With deep experience building
and operating regulated investment infrastructure in the region, Karan plays a key role instrengthening Alpaca’s local presence and advancing its mission to open financial services globally.
Before joining Alpaca, Karan was Co-Founder and CEO of WealthKernel, where he built
API-first brokerage and custody infrastructure for fintechs and financial institutions across the
UK and Europe, including support for products such as ISAs and SIPPs. Prior to that, he was aPortfolio Manager at Barclays Wealth in London, overseeing approximately $500 million in client assets.
Co-Founder, and Chief Marketing Officer, Chip
Alex is Co-founder and CMO of Chip, the UK digital wealth manager helping people build long-term wealth. He leads Chip’s marketing function across CRM, growth, brand and content, and sits on the executive committee. He writes and speaks regularly on personalisation in financial services and what it takes to make it work at scale.
Senior Investment Strategist,
Vanguard
Fu Tan, Ph.D., is a senior investment strategist in Vanguard’s Investment Strategy Group and Global Public Policy Group, and a thought leader in global retirement systems and retirement research. She leads research on retirement readiness, retirement income adequacy, and the comparative design of retirement systems across markets, translating cross-country evidence into policy and product insight. She is a principal author of the Vanguard Retirement Outlook, a flagship research initiative that assesses retirement readiness across major markets and informs policy engagement, retirement strategy, and the design of investor-focused solutions.
Her research sits at the intersection of household finance, retirement policy, and portfolio construction, with a focus on how retirement systems and defined contribution plan design shape financial security across countries. Her latest report, Strengthening the UK’s Defined Contribution Retirement System: From Access to Outcomes (2026), sets out priorities on automatic-enrolment coverage, contribution adequacy, pension portability, and retirement-income pathways to inform the Pensions Commission and related UK Government decisions. Her wider work spans U.S. retirement reform and auto-portability, global retirement-system comparisons, and retirement-income solution design. She translates rigorous research into practical recommendations for policymakers, regulators, retirement-plan professionals, and investors.
Fu holds a B.A. in Finance from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, an M.A. in Economics from Duke University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
CEO, Interactive Brokers UK
Gerry Perez based in London, is the CEO and board member of Interactive Brokers (UK). Interactive Brokers UK is a part of the Interactive Brokers Group. Interactive Brokers Group is listed on NASDAQ (symbol: IBKR) and a part of the S&P 500. IBKR provide automated trade execution and custody of multi asset classes on over 170 markets from a single unified platform to clients worldwide. IBKR has extensive experience in developing innovative technology and embedding it into its trading and reporting tools to give its clients smarter means for execution and decision making. Gerry has over two decades of international C-Suite experience in the financial markets. He publicly speaks to the media and at universities on several topics in the fintech industry. Gerald’s academic journey has taken him to the University of Oxford (Said), Cambridge University (Judge), and MIT (Sloan) business schools. His combination of practical industry experience and academic studies (e.g., AI, data analytics) makes him an insightful speaker.
CEO/GM Wealth, Monzo
Jo Phillips is General Manager for Wealth at Monzo, joining the leading digital bank’s mission to help make money work for everyone and build future-focused financial habits through saving and investing. Prior to joining Monzo, Jo was General Manager for Aviva Consumer Wealth and previously held multiple executive leadership positions at American Express and BlackRock. Throughout her career Jo has continued to build teams and products which grow businesses and transform customer experiences.
Chair of Financial Technology (FinTech), University of Birmingham
Professor Karen Elliott is Chair of Financial Technology (FinTech) at the University of Birmingham Business School, where she leads digital finance education and research focused on responsible innovation, ethical AI, and sustainable digital transformation. Recognised as an Innovate Finance Women in FinTech Powerlist honouree and featured in the Kalifa Review, she works at the intersection of academia, industry, and policy.
Karen holds leadership roles across major UK research and innovation programmes, including the UKFin+ Network for Financial Services and the INFINITY Hub, advancing trustworthy and ethical applications of AI, machine learning, and digital technologies (£10m>). She has published widely in leading international journals and contributes to standards, policy, and regulatory initiatives, including work with IEEE and FCA innovation programmes.
Drawing on extensive experience in finance, risk, change, and programme management, Karen champions socio-technical approaches that balance innovation, inclusion, governance, and sustainability to support a fairer and more resilient digital society.
Chief Customer Officer,
Foresters Life
Liz Michel is Chief Customer and Operations Officer for Foresters Financial UK, a mutual organisation supporting over 1.2 million customers. She leads the customer agenda across Customer Operations, Marketing, Propositions and Insight, and is Executive Sponsor for Consumer Duty, with a focus on delivering good customer outcomes and making financial services more accessible, understandable and relevant to customers’ real needs.
Foresters’ mutual model and broad customer base give Liz direct insight and perspectives into the real-life challenges families face in building financial confidence and long-term resilience.
Liz joined Foresters in 2023, bringing more than 20 years’ experience in customer leadership roles across financial services, retail, telecommunications and insurance, including senior roles at B&Q, Virgin Media, Bupa and Barclays.
Head of Policy
Lloyds Banking Group
Pete has been with Lloyds Banking Group for 35 years, holding a broad range of senior positions across Operations, Change, Corporate Ventures, and Propositions before taking on the Public Policy remit 9 years ago. Pete is on the Pensions Panel at the CBI, the DC Committee at the PLSA, The Strategy Council at TISA, and various committees at the ABI. Pete is also a Non -Executive Director at Criterion Tech UK.
Corporate Director of Strategy & Impact, Money and Pensions Service (MaPS)
Rich Watts is Corporate Director of Strategy & Impact at the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS). He has extensive leadership experience across the NHS, central and local government, arm’s length bodies and the voluntary sector, with a track record of turning ambitious goals into practical improvements for the public. Prior to joining MaPS, Rich was Deputy Director for Elective Care at NHS England, where he led national strategy and policy on NHS waiting lists, including the Elective Reform Plan, working closely with No.10, HM Treasury, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS leaders. Passionate about ensuring people’s lived experiences shape the design and delivery of services, Rich now leads MaPS’ work on strategy, policy and impact, helping to strengthen evidence-based approaches to improving financial wellbeing across the UK.
Chief Investment Officer, Rathbones
Robert joined Rathbones in 2026 as Chief Investment Officer and is a member of the Group Executive Committee. He is responsible for leading the ongoing development of a world-class investment strategy and process at Rathbones, overseeing the entire investment lifecycle, including asset allocation, investment research, portfolio construction, and risk management, to ensure the delivery of superior, scalable outcomes for clients.
With two decades of experience in global financial markets and investing, Robert has a proven track record of developing sophisticated investment frameworks and delivering excellent performance. Prior to Rathbones, he spent over 13 years at Capital Generation Partners, where as Partner and Chief Investment Officer, he led the investment team and pioneered the firm’s proprietary asset allocation models. He began his career at Merrill Lynch, focusing on structured solutions and derivatives across all major asset classes.
Robert’s approach is defined by a clear investment philosophy and framework, and a commitment to data-driven research. He holds a double first-class Master of Mathematics from Oxford University and a Master of Finance from Cambridge University, where he was awarded the Director’s Prize for the highest overall mark. Robert is a CFA® charterholder, a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM), and holds the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing.
Chairman at TISA
Mark Westwell is an experienced NED, Chair of Board and Trustee, working for LEXI real estate capital advisory, Card Industry Professionals Ltd and SENSE the complex disability charity, since he retired from full time employment in 2019. Previously, he enjoyed a 40-year career in financial services, holding senior leadership and executive roles at NatWest, Chase/JPMorgan, Bank of New York and State Street Bank. He also served as a main Board Director for 10 years across several regulated businesses, in both the UK and South Africa. His primary responsibilities focused on strategic client management, covering all aspects of commercial and service criteria to major banks, pension funds, insurance firms and asset managers. Throughout his career he was recognised for consistently demonstrating strong commercial growth, balanced with prudent risk, regulatory, compliance and legal considerations. In 2013-2015 Mark led the financial services industry collaboration and ‘case study’ response, to the FCA’s “Dear CEO Letter” to Asset managers on outsourcing arrangements. Mark has actively supported charities throughout his career, including the NSPCC, Prostate Cancer and chaired State Street Banks’ Philanthropy Committee for 6 years. He’s also supported equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives over the last 25 years and was a mentor to several senior businesswomen in the 30% club UK. Mark is an Oxford University, Advanced Management Programme (AMP) graduate.
Head of Policy: Consumer Protection & Access, TISA
Sophie leads TISA’s work on the Advice/Guidance Boundary Review, Disclosures, Financial Education, Financial Crime and TISA’s Inclusive Investing initiative. Before joining us, Sophie worked in Wholesale Markets Policy at the FCA, gaining experience in Primary and Secondary legislation, as well as FCA consultations. She has worked on Brexit and the LIBOR transition and was seconded to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Prior to that, she worked in M&A for a FTSE 100.
Head of Policy: Products & Long-Term Savings, TISA
Renny has been at TISA for over 8 years and is the Head of Policy: Products & Long-Term Savings. He has been in the industry for over 35 years and has held various management and senior management positions at organisations ranging from a large mutual life and pensions company, a bespoke SIPP provider, an IFA and a platform technology provider. Qualifications wise he holds the CII accreditations of Certificate in Life and Pensions, Certificate in Financial Planning and Diploma in Financial Planning. He is a frequent commentator in the media and has significant involvement in the ongoing government agenda of change through his TISA role and membership of several industry working groups and committees.
Policy Executive, TISA
Phil leads TISA’s work on Operational resilience, Digital innovation, Tax, VAT, and Governance conduct and culture. Before joining TISA, Phil worked trading in the foreign exchange markets for a bank, followed by 24 years working at a leading transfer agency , running various large teams relating to complex dealing processes latterly as an Operations Director.
Policy Executive at TISA
Steve joined TISA in March 2026 as a Policy Executive, with responsibility for leading on Client Assets (CASS) and Financial Crime prevention. Prior to joining TISA, Steve held various management and senior management positions at a range of large investment manager and platform businesses. When he was at Aberdeen, Steve was Head of CASS (CF10a) for its investment management activities. Steve is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment.
Technical Manager/Trainer, TISA
Dave has been with TISA for over 20 years and in that time has delivered most of TISA’s ISA workshops across the UK, running both public workshops and bespoke in-house workshops for firms operating in the ISA industry. He often works closely with HM Revenue & Customs when helping member firms interpret the ISA regulations and guidance and is responsible for ISA queries received by TISA member firms. Prior to TISA, Dave had seven years of experience within the financial services industry, having worked previously in both sales and compliance.
