John is responsible for the Innovation and Operations Unit which aims to build the industry’s innovation capacity through IA policy development on technological change, DLT, crypto and AI, as well as promoting fund modernisation and supporting firms on operational policy including resiliency. John is also a fixed member of the FCA’s Innovation Advisory Group bringing the regulator’s attention to key issues impacting the investment sector and fintech.

The Investment Association is the trade body and industry voice for UK investment managers. We champion the investment management industry, which plays a major role in the UK and global economy and helps millions of individuals and families achieve their life goals by helping grow their investments.

Jamie Anderson serves as the Global Head of Collateral Treasury Trading, based in London. In this role, he is responsible for managing funding and liquidity for the Global Markets division, optimizing cross-asset collateral, and providing secured financing solutions for clients. Additionally, Jamie is involved in digital asset innovation for the Securities Financing business and currently serves as a board member of HQLAx.

He also oversees Financial Resource Optimization for Securities Financing, which focuses on the commercialization and optimization of financial resources. Furthermore, Jamie jointly leads the Prime Services Client Pricing and Analytics Team.

With over 25 years of experience in securities finance, Jamie has held trading roles at Citadel in the Portfolio Financing area and at JPMorgan/Bear Stearns in Prime Finance before joining HSBC. He began his career at Goldman Sachs.

Dr Robert Barnes is Co-CEO of BPX, FCA authorised MTF and first trading venue approved by Bank of England and FCA into UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox. Dr Barnes also founded Anopolis, advising market structures, and is a member of the National Timing Centre programme Steering Commitee led by the National Physical Laboratory.

He previously was CEO of two successful regulated trading venues, Turquoise (2013-2022 – awarded Outstanding Equities Trading Venue 2021) & UBS MTF (2010-2013 while at UBS 1994-2010, appointed Managing Director, Equities 2005). His peers voted him The TRADE’s first Industry Person of the Year at its Leaders in Trading Awards in November 2022. In 2023, the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment awarded him its highest accolade, an Honorary Fellowship. In 2024, he earned the CISI Certificate in Ethical AI and is a contributor to Global Digital Finance’s Policy & Regulatory Working Groups. Robert holds a PhD from Cambridge and BA from Harvard.

Brendan Bradley is a seasoned financial services executive, specialised in product management, business development and innovation across large corporations in the UK and Europe. He played a major part in the development of the European futures and options industry while serving at LIFFE, DTB and Eurex.

Brendan’s last major corporate role was as an Executive Board member and Chief Innovation Officer at Eurex (part of Deutsche Boerse Group), where he was responsible for championing and “brokering” new ideas, both internally and externally, and looking for new opportunities within the changing market environment, either organically or through investments, particularly in the related FinTech space.

Michael Brown is a partner in the derivatives and structured products practice at Clifford Chance. Michael specialises in securities financing transactions, derivatives and bespoke collateral structures. Michael also advises on a range of related regulatory developments and innovations in the market, such as the use of digital assets.

Jethro is part of the funding markets sales team who manage clients using repo and money market products with Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets trading desks and Lloyds Bank PLC treasury. The team have a focus on the sterling market, connecting the bank with clients across pension schemes, insurance, sovereign wealth funds, central and commercial banks as well as corporate treasuries.

Ciara is Co-Head of Government and Regulatory Affairs, EMEA at State Street and is based in London. Ciara leads on climate and wider environmental, social and governance-related public policy matters, globally, in addition to certain regional-specific issues. She collaborates with internal and external stakeholders to coordinate firmwide public policy messaging across State Street’s core business lines in response to the evolving global regulatory landscape. This includes briefing senior management, drafting policy position papers, public comments letters and engaging with global policymakers. She represents State Street in various industry collaborations and associations, and is co-Chair of ISLA’s Sustainable Finance Council. Prior to State Street, Ciara worked in the Government & Regulatory Affairs team (2012-2016) as well as the Compliance Regulatory Strategy team (2016-2017) at Deutsche Bank AG. She started her career as a financial consultant in a regulatory consultancy in London, after graduating with a Bachelor degree from Queen Mary University of London.

Paul Lenihan is a Senior Associate in Clifford Chance’s Financial Regulation Group. He specialises in advising major global financial institutions, trade associations and other market participants on financial market regulation, securities and derivatives transactions, and mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector.

Jeavon leads the Market Insights team at Lloyds Corporate & Institutional Banking, primarily focusing on UK economics and global developments that impact major financial markets. His team communicates the views of Lloyds Bank externally, both through regular written commentary and formal presentations. Jeavon has extensive experience as a professional economist and regularly presents at events across the UK and internationally.

Julie leads the Primary Markets and Corporate Finance team at UK Finance, which focuses on primary market issuance and public M&A/Corporate Finance.

Julie has a wealth of experience in this area, having worked as a lawyer for over 20 years at (amongst others) Linklaters and Goldman Sachs and latterly as a policy expert within the FCA’s Capital Markets Policy team. Julie sits on the editorial board of the Capital Markets Law Journal.

Julie is also an experienced Executive Coach.

James Templeman, Managing Director, is Global Head of Securities Lending at BlackRock.

Mr. Templeman’s service with the firm dates back to 2001, including his years with Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Mr. Templeman was a Director of Equilend for over ten years, and served on the International Securities Lending Association’s Executive Committee for many years, including two years as Chairman. Mr. Templeman earned a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Economics from Leicester University in 1992.

Sharon joined L&G Asset Management in June 2024 to optimise and develop securities lending and financing activity though partnering with third-party agents/custodians and internal functions to define policy and governance. Prior to joining L&G Sharon was a Securities Finance Trader at BNY agent lender and the Aviva inhouse securities lending programme, responsible for Equity/Fixed Income lending and in addition the execution of Repo/Reverse Repo for the Money Market and LDI funds.