Culture and conduct remain at top of the agenda not only for financial institutions, but also for the regulators, as Andrew Bailey, CEO of the PRA and shortly to be CEO of the FCA, made clear at our City Week event earlier this month:

“For the avoidance of doubt – and in view of recent history – I want to start with what I intend as an unambiguous statement, namely that the culture of firms and the people that make them up - and of course therefore the culture of industries insofar as it can be generalised – is of the utmost importance to financial regulators. Culture matters a great deal.  And this is true for both conduct and prudential regulators. Today I am speaking as the CEO of the PRA, but at the beginning of July I will become the CEO of the FCA.   One thing that this move does not require is a change of view on the importance of culture in firms.”

Andrew Bailey went on to list what he regarded as the contributory forces that create a firm’s culture: the stance and effectiveness of management and governance, including that well used phrase “the tone from the top”; the structure of remuneration and the incentives it creates; the quality and effectiveness of risk management; and as important as tone from the top, the willingness of people throughout the organisation to enthusiastically adopt and adhere to that tone.

The expectations of the regulators are shared by institutional shareholders and the wider community of stakeholders, which has resulted in an environment in which establishing an appropriate culture has become a priority for all financial institutions.

It is against this backdrop that City & Financial is organising its highly topical summit. We are delighted that Harriett Baldwin MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, has kindly agreed to give the opening keynote address.

• The importance of diversity in improving the culture of the FS industry
  
• Getting culture and conduct right - the role of the regulator
  
• The developing strategy of the Banking Standards Board and its work plan going forward
  
• The chief executive as cultural leader and ambassador
  
• Moving beyond regulation and compliance – the role of the board in relation to culture and conduct
  
• Structuring incentives and remuneration to produce positive behaviour 
  
• How training and education can be utilised to reinforce a firm’s ethics and standards
• Stewardship as a lever for cultural change
  
• The FICC Standards Board progress in developing standards for the wholesale markets
  
• Use of internal risk assessment frameworks
  
• How well is the Senior Managers Regime bedding down and what are the challenges of its roll-out across the rest of the FS industry?
  
• Potential of HR data analytics to model staff behaviour
  
• Critical issues in addressing culture and conduct