Financial Conduct Authority’s COO Emily Shepperd on preparing the regulator for its expanding remit, and the need for a “bit more understanding” about the FCA’s limits

Today’s guest outlines how the UK’s markets watchdog is adapting the way it works and resources its teams to ensure it is fit to meet its ever-expanding remit.

She calls on City workers to be “a bit more understanding” about the Financial Conduct Authority’s limits as it navigates this growing to-do list, to speak out if the regulator is “getting something very, very wrong” and for finance bosses to speak up if they want to find a way for their employees to help the FCA with its workload.

She also discusses what changes the FCA wants to see amongst the financial services companies and individuals it supervises and the cultural red flags that the watchdog is “most sensitive to”.

Emily Shepperd worked as director of customer services and change at pensions group Aegon UK, and as chief operating officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Bank of New York Mellon before joining the FCA in early 2021. Since then, she has led the FCA’s authorisations division, which the regulator describes as “the gateway” for firms and individuals aiming to work in finance. In 2022, she added the role of FCA COO to her remit and took on responsibility for future-proofing the regulator via its transformation agenda.