Baker & McKenzie has expanded its London based regulatory team with the hire of partner Steven Francis from Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC).
Francis advises on FCA enforcement actions and general compliance and financial crime. Prior to joining RPC he had worked at what was the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) as a manager in the enforcement division looking at wholesale firms and markets.
At RPC, which he joined in 2008, Francis established the firm’s financial services and regulatory group. He had previously worked at both DLA Piper and Eversheds.
In a conversation with IFLR1000 Arun Srivastava, Baker & McKenzie’s head of the financial services group in the UK, said that Francis would work across both contentious and non-contentious matters in line with the approach of the broader team:
"Clients want a deep understanding of the rules and why they're there but also an understanding of how the regulator will react to events or developments. Experience of how things play out in a contentious supervisory or enforcement context is helpful in delivering a judgement on what the regulator might react to generally," he said.
Srivastava also confirmed that the firm was looking to grow its team but this would be largely internal and the department was unlikely to make any further senior hires in London in the near future, though he didn’t rule out external additions at a more junior level.