Expertise
Louis is a financial crime and compliance specialist with over 20 years of direct in-house and in-regulator experience. He takes a practical and commercial approach to help firms capture strategic market advantage by meeting regulatory expectations.
Louis brings first-hand understanding of compliance operational frameworks to advise founders, investors and management teams on the design and implementation of sustainable systems and controls to mitigate financial crime risk and enhance governance.
He has the depth of financial services expertise to help digital asset, fintech and payment services firms navigate the complexities of the regulatory landscape whilst remaining flexible enough to provide day-to-day support.
Experience Highlights
- Leading the FCA authorisation process for an international digital asset company to enter the UK market for electronic money and crypto asset services.
- Independent review of the financial crime enhancement program for a leading European bank to support legal negotiations following Euros 200 billion of suspicious transactions through its Estonian branch, resulting in a $2 billion settlement of local, US Dept of Justice and Securities and Enforcement Council (SEC) fraud charges.
- Led multiple financial crime audit and assurance reviews and remediation projects across trad-fi and de-fi services firms, including FCA Skilled Person (S166) and US BSA AML and sanctions reviews
- Worked with an independent Compliance and Ethics Monitor appointed by the US Department of Justice to oversee the financial crime incident and investigation program of a global bank to discharge a Deferred Prosecution Agreement related to LIBOR and EURIBOR manipulation.
- Led KYC remediation review of individual, corporate and charity customers for a UK retail bank to address FCA concerns, resulting in the bank regaining permission to on-board new customers.
- Assisted the UK’s largest building society in preparing for an FCA financial crime supervision visit, including senior management mock interview briefings, resulting in a favourable regulatory outcome.
Career History
Previous Businesses
- Senior Advisor, Big 4 consultancy
- Head of Financial Crime and Compliance Monitoring – UK insurance broker
- US boutique financial crime consultancy – Regulatory Compliance and Investigation
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – Supervision of central retail banks and asset managers
- Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – Enforcement division forensic investigations
Memberships
- Chartered Accountant, member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW)
Education
- University of Durham BA (Hons)
- St Paul’s School