Regulatory Risk Consulting and Investigations
Licensing and permissions
Our regulatory experts advise financial institutions, investors and businesses entering regulated markets on securing the approvals they need to establish, acquire and grow regulated businesses. We support clients throughout the process, from determining whether authorisation is required and identifying the appropriate permissions to preparing applications, developing regulatory business plans and operating models, and managing engagement with regulators.
Our experience spans banking, investment and wealth management, payments, insurance and cryptoassets, in the UK and internationally. We also advise on regulatory due diligence, variations of permission, changes in control, senior manager approvals and authorisation readiness, combining legal advice with practical implementation expertise to take applications from initial strategy through to approval.
Investigations and financial crime
Our regulatory experts advise financial institutions and other businesses on serious misconduct, control failures and suspected financial crime. We conduct and support complex investigations involving fraud, money laundering, sanctions, bribery and corruption, and help clients respond to regulatory scrutiny and enforcement action.
Our work also includes independent and thematic reviews, financial crime risk and effectiveness assessments, remediation programmes, framework design and expert evidence in regulatory and financial crime disputes. We help clients establish what happened, understand the legal and regulatory consequences, and take effective action to address the underlying issues.
Regulatory change and advisory
Our regulatory experts help financial institutions anticipate and respond to new regulation and shifts in supervisory expectations. We advise clients on the implications for their business and support them in translating regulatory requirements into changes to governance, products, customer journeys, operating models, systems and controls.
Our experience spans major domestic and international change programmes, including market and conduct regulation, Consumer Duty, governance and accountability, and regulatory simplification. We support clients from horizon scanning and impact assessment through to programme design, implementation and assurance, helping ensure that regulatory requirements are embedded in the way the business operates
Government and regulatory advisory
Our regulatory experts work with governments, regulators and public bodies to develop effective regulatory frameworks, supervisory strategies and policy responses. We advise on the design and reform of regulatory regimes, the implementation of international standards and the practical challenges of supervising changing markets and emerging technologies.
Our experience includes national regulatory reform programmes, thematic and sector-wide reviews, supervisory methodology, institutional capacity building and preparations for international evaluations. Our advisers draw on practical experience of both regulated firms and public authorities across jurisdictions, helping governments and regulators turn policy objectives into workable and credible regulatory outcomes.
Issues We Help Clients With
Using AI safely in regulated businesses
Our regulatory experts help financial institutions and investors assess, adopt and use AI while maintaining effective governance and control. We support clients in identifying suitable use cases, evaluating AI-enabled businesses and platforms, understanding where AI creates new risks or dependencies, and establishing clear accountability, risk appetite and oversight throughout the AI lifecycle.
Our work spans AI strategy and governance, use-case and platform assessment, data and model risk, third-party providers, human oversight, monitoring and assurance. We also undertake AI-related due diligence for investments, acquisitions and commercial partnerships, assessing technical and functional maturity, operating models, regulatory and operational exposure, intellectual property and third-party dependencies, and whether claimed capabilities and benefits are credible.
Digital assets, stablecoins and tokenisation
Our regulatory experts help financial institutions, fintechs and investors determine how to enter and operate in digital asset and tokenised markets. We support clients in assessing new products, infrastructure and investments, identifying the appropriate regulatory model, and designing the governance, operating model and controls required to move from concept to launch and scale.
Our work spans crypto asset licensing, stablecoin issuance and distribution, tokenised financial products and real-world assets, custody, on-chain identity and compliance, and regulatory due diligence. We also work with governments and regulators on policy, regulatory frameworks and supervisory approaches that support innovation while addressing financial crime, consumer protection, market integrity and financial stability.
Bringing together fraud, cyber and financial crime
Criminal activity increasingly cuts across the traditional boundaries between fraud, cyber and financial crime. Compromised accounts, stolen identities, scams, mule networks and digital assets may form part of the same activity, while financial institutions often manage them through separate teams, systems, data and risk assessments. This fragmentation can obscure risk, slow intervention and create unnecessary friction for legitimate customers.
Our regulatory experts help clients bring together governance, intelligence, data, detection, investigations and customer response across these functions. Our work spans operating model and control design, integrated risk assessments, information-sharing and escalation, combined detection strategies, effectiveness assessments, and public-private and interbank collaboration designed to prevent harm and disrupt criminal activity.
Responding to sanctions and geopolitical risk
Sanctions regimes can change quickly in response to geopolitical events, requiring financial institutions, investors and businesses to make immediate decisions about customers, transactions, investments and markets. Exposure is rarely limited to named designated parties and may arise through complex ownership and control structures, counterparties, payment chains, trade routes and digital assets, often across jurisdictions with differing requirements.
Our regulatory experts help clients assess their exposure, define risk appetite and strengthen the governance and controls supporting those decisions. Our work spans sanctions and proliferation-financing risk assessments, ownership and control analysis, screening and payment controls, transaction and portfolio due diligence, investigations and remediation, scenario planning and engagement with regulators.
Regulatory simplification without weakening control
Financial institutions are under pressure to reduce cost and complexity while continuing to demonstrate effective control. Constant waves of regulatory change have left many with overlapping policies, committees, assessments, controls and reporting, creating operational burden and customer friction without necessarily improving regulatory outcomes. Simplification undertaken without a clear understanding of the risks each control addresses can, however, create new weaknesses.
Our regulatory experts help clients identify duplication, disproportionate controls and processes that no longer serve their intended purpose. Our work spans regulatory obligation, risk and control mapping, control rationalisation, governance and operating-model redesign, streamlined policies and processes, and the use of data and technology to improve efficiency. We also help clients establish the assurance and evidence needed to demonstrate that a simpler framework remains effective.
Preparing for FATF and other international evaluations
FATF and other international evaluations assess not only whether laws and frameworks are in place, but whether the national system is producing effective outcomes. Governments and regulators must bring together evidence from supervisors, law-enforcement agencies, financial intelligence units, prosecutors and the private sector. Inconsistent data, weak coordination or an inability to demonstrate results can obscure genuine progress and expose unresolved gaps. Financial institutions must also be prepared to explain how their controls contribute to national effectiveness.
Our regulatory experts help jurisdictions and their institutions prepare through diagnostic and gap assessments, national action plans, evidence strategies, mock evaluations and interviews, stakeholder coordination and private-sector engagement. We also support post-evaluation remediation and preparations for follow-up assessments, helping clients focus reform on measurable outcomes and present a coherent, evidence-based account of effectiveness.
Demonstrating that compliance frameworks are effective
Our regulatory experts help financial institutions demonstrate that their compliance frameworks are effective, whether in response to regulatory scrutiny or to give boards confidence that resources are directed towards the areas of greatest risk. We support clients in assessing how well controls address the underlying risks, identifying gaps and duplication, and building evidence that compliance investment is producing the intended results.
Our work spans independent effectiveness reviews, risk and control mapping, control testing, management information and dashboards, board and regulatory reporting, remediation planning and regulatory attestations. We also help clients use the findings to decide where to strengthen controls, simplify processes or redeploy resources so that compliance expenditure is focused where it has the greatest impact.