Funds Symposium 2025 - Fit for the Future: Powering up UK Funds

• Insights from senior leaders on navigating a dynamic and rapidly evolving industry.  

• An overview of how developments in key areas such as technology, regulation, and consumer behaviour are shaping the UK funds space. 

• The latest IA research on trends within the UK funds market and the wider implications for industry.  

• A mix of perspectives on the key challenges and opportunities facing the industry during a time of significant change, including with respect to how the UK is positioned in the international context as a fund domicile.  

• An opportunity to connect with a range of peers from across the funds ecosystem.   

Chris Cummings, Chief Executive, The Investment Association

Chris Cummings is the Chief Executive of The Investment Association, a post he has held since September 2016. The Investment Association is the trade body that represents UK-based investment managers.

He is a member of HM Treasury’s Asset Management Taskforce, and was a founding member of its Financial Services Trade & Investment Board. He serves on the Chancellor’s Financial Services Industry Advisory Group and Department for International Trade’s Financial Services Trade Advisory Group.

He is a Board member on EFAMA, the European trade association for investment management and is Chairman of IIFA, the international association for investment management. He is also a Chair of Just Finance Foundation.

He was previously a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulatory Decisions Committee, a Settlement Decision Maker for the Payment Services Regulator. He served on the Foreign & Commonwealth’s Diplomatic Excellence Panel.

Before joining The Investment Association he was the founding CEO of TheCityUK, held senior posts in banking, insurance and consulting with major global firms. He is a regular columnist, commentator and speaker on issues of international competitiveness and regulation in financial services.

Karen Zachary, Partner and COO, Lansdowne Partners

Karen joined Lansdowne Partners in 2023 and is a member of the Management Committee. Prior to joining Lansdowne, Karen was CEO for CRUX Asset Management since 2020, having joined as COO in 2015. She has held senior and executive roles in asset management for over twenty-five years, including Man Group, Janus Henderson, and Fidelity.

Karen also holds the position of Chairperson and Independent Non-Executive Director for Mediolanum International Funds in Ireland and in September 2022 was appointed as a Non-Executive Director on the board of the Investment Association, the UK trade body for the Investment Management sector. Karen also is a member of the FCA Small Business Practitioner Panel representing the Asset Management sector for the UK regulator.

Karen holds an MBA from Durham University.

Laurence Everitt, Head of Global Fund Services, United Kingdom, Northern Trust Asset Servicing 

Laurence Everitt is the Head of Global Fund Services in the UK. He is also a member of the bank’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) Executive Management Committee.

Laurence leads Northern Trust’s business providing asset servicing solutions to sophisticated investment managers and their UK funds. These include global custody, depositary, fund administration and investment operations outsourcing services.

Laurence joined Northern Trust in April 2011 and has since led the growth and development of this business helping facilitate improved speed-to-market, operational efficiency, business focus and distribution for clients' traditional and alternative funds. In November 2024, Monterey Insights confirmed Northern Trust as the UK’s leading provider of custody, depositary services and fund accounting by number of funds.

Prior to joining Northern Trust, Laurence spent over 15 years in Senior Management and Board Positions in two FTSE organisations. He has held regulated positions in the UK, Ireland, Jersey & Guernsey, and sits on several financial services industry committees.

Jonathan Lipkin, Director - Policy, Strategy and Innovation, The Investment Association

Jonathan is Director of Policy, Strategy and Innovation at The Investment Association (IA) and a longstanding member of the IA's Executive Committee.

Jonathan’s role focuses on helping the investment management industry to best serve its customer markets at a time of accelerating change. The PSI Division has evolved into a multi-disciplinary and diverse team that covers a wide range of policy and regulation affecting the industry, including competition, communication, financial stability and fund governance, as well as the broader shape of pensions and long-term savings markets.

It also houses a specialist Innovation and Operations Unit to assist the industry in adapting to new technologies and help shape the broader landscape. Jonathan joined the IA in 2005, becoming Director of Public Policy and a member of the IA Executive Committee in 2012. Prior to 2005, he worked for a number of years at Oxford Analytica, a geopolitical analysis and advisory firm. At OA, he led European political and economic analysis serving a wide range of corporate and government clients, both domestic and overseas.

Jonathan is a Board Member of the Cost Transparency Initiative, Chair of the EFAMA Pensions Group, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Asset Management Research at Bayes Business School. He writes and speaks regularly both in the UK and abroad on investment management and pensions issues.

Richard Parkin, Head of Retirement, BNY Investments

Richard is Head of Retirement for BNY Investments. In this role he is responsible for working with intermediary clients on developing their approach to retirement planning and investment. He also acts as a spokesperson for the firm on retirement issues particularly as they relate to investment.

Richard has over 30 years’ experience in the industry, focused entirely on Defined Contribution (DC) pensions and retirement. Prior to joining BNY Investments, Richard ran his own business providing strategy consulting to pension providers and asset managers and producing a series of research reports on the DC and retirement advice markets. He has also worked at Fidelity International, UBS Global Asset Management and Towers Perrin.

Richard is a non-executive director and Deputy Chair at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and chairs the Investment Association’s Retirement Income Committee.

Nigel Smith, UK CEO, Ninety One

Nigel joined Ninety One in 2013, after 16 years with M&G Investments. Initially as Global Head of Product, he was responsible for Ninety One’s product platforms around the world. Then, as Chief Marketing Officer, he oversaw the re-brand to Ninety One from Investec Asset Management and was a core member of the de-merger team. More recently, Nigel was Managing Director of Ninety One’s UK Client Group, responsible for institutional and adviser client-facing activity in the UK.

Now as UK CEO, Nigel brings together this commercial and governance experience for Ninety One’s UK business.

Nigel completed an executive MBA programme with Harvard Business School. He chairs the Investment Association’s Investment Funds Committee.

Liam Healy, Chief Executive Officer, FE fundinfo

Liam Healy is the Chief Executive Officer of FE fundinfo, a leading investment management financial information and technology company connecting the investment community in the UK, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Healy was appointed in this role in September 2023 to drive FE fundinfo’s growth aspirations, building on a track record of leading successful Software as a Service (SaaS) businesses, alongside broad international experience across Europe, Asia and the US.

Healy brought with him more than 15 years of executive leadership experience, focused on delivering client value through go-to-market strategy (GTM), product and technology delivery, and mergers and acquisitions.

Before joining FE fundinfo, he served as an Executive on the leadership team at Diligent, a governance, risk and compliance (GRC) SaaS company, where he was Managing Director and Senior Vice President for their international business.

Karen Northey, Director of Corporate Affairs, The Investment Association

Karen leads the Corporate Affairs function at the Investment Association (IA), which includes Communications, UK Government Affairs and European and International Regulatory Affairs. Karen joined the IA from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in March 2022 where she was Head of China, International Markets and Head of Government Relations, Asia Pacific. Prior to LSEG, Karen worked at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) where she held a number of roles including leading the FCA’s international relations function and the asset management and funds policy team.

Karen holds a JD/LLB and a BA from the University of Ottawa in Canada and an LLM from the London School of Economics. She is a qualified solicitor in both the UK and in Ontario, Canada.

Simon Walls, Interim Executive Director (Markets), FCA

Simon has held a range of roles in Wholesale Markets across 20 years at the FCA (previously FSA), including the supervision of buy-side, sell-side and infrastructure firms. He was the Head of Wholesale Markets Department from 2016, before taking up the post of Director of Sell-side in 2022.

Simon is currently the Interim Executive Director of Markets. Simon has led the FCA's work on a series of market events, including nickel and LDI.

Prior to joining the FSA, Simon started his career on the graduate scheme at the Bank of England and holds qualifications in Economics and Law.

Miranda Seath, Director of Market Insight & Fund Sectors, The Investment Association

Miranda leads the team analysing data and trends in UK investment management, producing evidence-based insight to support the IA’s policy agenda. The division provides insight to members and external stakeholders through the Investment Management Survey, retail funds market commentary and investor research. Miranda is also responsible for the IA Sectors, the fund classification scheme designed to help UK investors navigate the retail fund universe.

Miranda joined the IA in May 2019. Before joining, she was Research Director at Platforum and NextWealth, research and consulting firms focused on retail investment distribution.

Mohammad K Syed, Head Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management UK

Mohammad Syed (Mo) is Head of Private Bank and Wealth Management (UK&CD’s) at Barclays, rejoining the firm in 2025. He was previously CEO of Asset Management for NatWest Group and Head of Asset and Wealth Management at Coutts. With over 35 years of experience, Mo has held senior roles across Barclays, Sanwa International, and founded Axiom Funds Group, working with UHNW and institutional clients globally. He holds an MSc from Imperial College London.

Richard Wilson, CEO, interactive investor

Richard is the CEO of interactive investor (ii), the UK retail investment service. He has spent the last 30 years leading technology-driven change in banks and brokers, both retail and wholesale, in the US and Europe.  His passion for service and people are his core interests.

Under his leadership, the company has grown significantly, becoming the UK's 2nd largest investment platform, supporting £81bn* of customers' investments. His passions for service and people have been central to his career and are at the heart of everything ii stands for. In 2024, Richard’s role expanded, when he also became the Group’s Chief Operating Officer.

Richard is a member of the PRA Practitioner Panel, Board member of the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA), and Chairman of the Poddar Housing Corporation, the Mumbai-based affordable housing business. Richard is a graduate of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Dr. Daniel Niedermayer, CEO & Founder, SolvencyAnalytics AG

Theo Golden, CFA, Investment Manager, Baillie Gifford

Theo is an investment manager at Baillie Gifford and Chair of the Tokenisation Working Group. Theo is the architect of the firm's tokenisation strategy, and responsible for designing and creating tokenised funds as one of the firm's Digital Asset experts. Theo co-manages the Baillie Gifford Strategic Bond Strategy, and is chair of the Corporate Credit Macro Group. Prior to joining Baillie Gifford in 2021, Theo was a financial journalist from 2019, with roles at various news outlets including Bloomberg and Business Insider. Theo graduated BA (Hons) in Music from Durham University in 2020 and is a CFA Charterholder.

Graham Rodford, Founder and CEO, Archax

Graham is a qualified accountant, with over 25 years’ experience in financial services. Prior to Archax, Graham was COO, CCO and Partner of Omni Partners, a $1.4billion hedge fund based in London, he was responsible for all operational activities and compliance. Before Omni, Graham held several senior operational, finance and compliance roles including HSBC, Caliburn Capital, Leo Fund Managers and Coutts Bank.

Annalise Toberman, Associate Research Director, Platforum 

Annalise is Associate Research Director at Platforum, a leading consultancy specialising in UK and European retail investment distribution. She advises financial services firms on industry developments and strategies to better support their customers.

With fifteen years’ experience in financial services market research, Annalise has partnered with asset managers, wealth managers, fintech firms and industry bodies across a broad array of projects – including market sizing, investor attitudes and behaviour, regulation, branding and marcomms, competitor benchmarking, customer experience and multi-country studies. She has interviewed thousands of financial Intermediaries, asset owners and private investors, providing insights that bring these audiences’ perspectives to life.

Annalise holds a Government BSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Market Research Society’s Advanced Certificate.

Dawn Houghton, Head of Investor Governance, The Wisdom Council

Nathan Long, Head of Targeted Support, Hargreaves Lansdown

Benjamin Summers, Head of Personal Investor, Europe, Vanguard

• How can we build the foundations of a retail investing culture in the UK?
• What are the objectives of Retail Investment Promotion Campaign and how can we reach
• different customer segments?
• Re-thinking risk – how do we move from warning to informing?
• Operationalising the Leeds Reforms & ISAs: how should industry collaborate to unlock
• opportunities to improve customer communications, access and choice?