Simon Crabb

Managing Director

WELCOME

Welcome to the Lutine Bell Annual Report.

There's change in the air, but one thing that is always consistent (regardless of the chaos of the political space!) is the passion and commitment we hear every day from those driving the UK's financial sector forward.

These are also the key forces behind our Events Charter, and our dedication to continue delivering opportunities to build on these cornerstones is what drives us to constantly develop this unique and much-loved programme.

We never forget that in our industry ‘you are only as good as the people you know.’

GREEN LIGHTS AND BUMPER STICKERS

I recently read Matthew McConaughey’s autobiography “Green Lights”. If you don’t know McConaughey, he is the famous Hollywood actor who played the infamous Rothchild’s Stockbroker Mark Hanna in the Wolf of Wall Street alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. He was also the lead role in Dallas Buyers Club which won him the Oscar.

In his book, McConaughey breaks life down into a series of life challenges, failures, personal successes, and lessons learned along the way which he refers to as Greenlights and Bumper Stickers.

As I write this introduction, looking back over the past year, I can relate to McConaughey’s concept.

Like McConaughey, I see the ‘Bumper Sticker’ as something which we have learned which we are proud enough for others to read, and every time we find a solution to overcome an obstacle, well that’s a ‘Green Light’!

So let me begin by explaining that we have made some changes to the format this year, not least of all the digital micro-site format from the previous print edition.

Born in 1975, I miss traditional communication methods - the letter, the phone call, the personal touch - which is why we try so hard to retain these formats where possible.

However, in the context of this Annual Report and future communications, I can’t help but see the benefits of the digital format. When it comes to presenting a years’ worth of intelligence gathered from over 300 events, 900 topics and 1000+ guests, digital offers a considerable advantage.

  • The new format means we can extend our reader subscription exponentially across UK, Europe and further afield. It means that instead of the report sitting on the boss’ desk, it can be read by every member of the team.
  • It means we can integrate the report into our digital hub, which will include all our sites, future events and legacy market data for future reference. It also means we can continually update salary data and ensure the right information reaches the right people at the right time.

Bumper sticker - Never forget the human touch

Green light – moving to a digital format

CURATED OPTIONS

Much of the content herein will focus on trend analysis, what to expect and of course, how the upcoming elections could impact the UK financial services sector. Of course, we don’t expect you to take our word for it - we are simply curating the thoughts and opinions of our guests. But we do hope it offers you some objective reflection and interpretation of the many thousands of conversations we have undertaken with you all this year.

It always makes me feel assured that the financial services sector continues to not solely be about the numbers as many people might think, but increasingly people and outcomes.

As you will read, the underlying context of this report leverages heavily on the single largest piece of regulation this year which is undeniably the Consumer Duty deadline which drives at its core the better outcomes for customers. We also tackle the emergence of technology and AI with the continued backdrop of economic uncertainty.

Bumper sticker - Treat others as you would want to be treated yourself

Green light – Putting customers first

ATTRACTING GRC LEADERS

As MD of Lutine Bell, I get to see all the hard work my consultants undertake in real-time. Every lunchtime event, every video update, every vacancy, nuance, challenge, emotion, and celebration.

2023/2024 was a significant year for our events team and the Events Charter’s growing success.

  • I am pleased to say that we have increased our events by 70%.
  • We re-introduced in-person (partnership) events, including 60 events working in partnership with our clients hosted at their offices.
  • We maintained our core events with GRC, Risk Management, Compliance & Audit leaders.
  • We successfully deployed the Legal Events Charter, covering both in-house and practice guests and added Finance to our roster of events and continue to lead the market in our Female leaders’ events.

New events included:

  • The Sustainability and ESG Risk group.
  • UK and Global Operational Resilience working group.
  • The Third-Party Risk Management think tank.
  • 1st line Risk and Regulatory Management
  • Legal Leadership
  • Compliance Surveillance
  • Dublin GRC Events Charter

Our Female Leadership series of events continues to attract the leading Female Risk and Compliance Directors, averaging 20 delegates per event from the leading financial institutions in the world.

Over the past year we have partnered with over 60 leading companies including Blackrock, Vanguard, Federated Hermes, Fidelity, Schroders, M&G plc. Phoenix Group, Quilter, Legal & General, Aegon, Canada Life, Bupa, AXA, AIG, Nationwide, JP Morgan and Marsh.

Bumper sticker - Let our guests do the talking

Green light – Connecting over 1000 new GRC guests