Kwasi Kwarteng was appointed Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 8 January 2021.

He was previously Minister of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Kwasi was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Exiting the European Union from 16 November 2018 to 24 July 2019.

Kwasi read classics and history at Trinity College, Cambridge, and then attended Harvard University on a Kennedy Scholarship. He earned a PhD in economic history from the University of Cambridge in 2000.

Before becoming a Member of Parliament, Kwasi worked as an analyst in financial services.

Kwasi was elected the Conservative MP for Spelthorne in 2010. From 2010 until 2013 he was a member of the Transport Select Committee, and in 2013 he joined the Work and Pensions Select Committee where he was a member until 2015.

In October 2016 Kwasi joined the Public Accounts Committee, where he was a member until May 2017.

In 2015 Kwasi was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords, and in 2017 he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Managing Director, Commercial Finance, UK Finance

Director UK Business Angels Association

Stephen has been involved in banking and finance for SMEs and corporates for most of his 37 years in the industry. He is part of the senior executive team at UK Finance and leads on policy relating to Commercial Banking, Invoice Finance and Asset Based Lending for UK Finance, the leading financial trade association. He leads work on business finance for support, competition and specialist banking and finance, dispute resolution, IBOR transition and international trade. He chairs an advisory group for the UK government on creative industries and is part of a minister led boards on business finance and promoting female entrepreneurship. Stephen has led work for the industry on covid lending schemes.

Previously at Lloyds Banking Group, having been responsible nationally for risk management, marketing, international services and training as well as management of local teams, he led competition policy, financial services and business community relationships and lending policy at Group level. He was also a member of executive boards in Lloyds Banking Group's Commercial Banking and Retail divisions with responsibility for business banking and invoice and asset-based finance both through Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland.

Stephen read Economics at University College London and has professional qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Bankers and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He represents the UK on business finance at the European Banking Federation and is on the executive committee of European Union Factoring and Commercial Finance Association. Stephen is a director of the UK Business Angels Association, the trade association dedicated to promoting angel investing and supporting early stage investment in the UK. PRIME Cymru was founded by HRH the Prince of Wales as one of his charities and works to help people over 50 in Wales to become economically active particularly by starting businesses. Stephen was chairman between 2008 and 2017 and remains a trustee.

He lives in North Somerset and is married to Cordelia, a GP. They have three grown up children.

Matthew is director of UK Finance's Invoice Finance and Asset Based Lending area, with particular expertise in supporting small and mid-sized businesses. 

Prior to UK Finance's formation Matthew was deputy chief executive of the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA), having joined as head of government affairs in 2011. He was previously joint-head of public affairs at specialist law firm Bircham Dyson Bell, advising clients across healthcare, transport, retail and infrastructure.  Before that he was a director at DLA Piper's global government relations practice, where his clients ranged from financial services businesses to overseas governments. Matthew holds a Master's degree in International Relations.

Matthew is responsible for developing and delivering the political and regulatory engagement strategy for UK Finance, the collective voice for the banking and finance industry. He was previously Head of Group Regulatory Policy at Lloyds Banking Group and, before that, a regulator at the Financial Conduct Authority and Ofcom, having started his career as a civil servant in a range of UK government departments.

Jennifer Tankard is Principal, Commercial Finance and leads on all issues that impact on access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) including the UK’s net zero goals. In 2021, she co-wrote Financing Green: a guide for SMEs with the CBI.

Millie Harrold is a Manager, LIBOR Transition at UK Finance, supporting over 100 bank and lender members in the move away from LIBOR across a range of asset classes. In particular, Millie leads engagement with the mortgage membership on transition and has a particular focus on the industry's response to tough legacy policy, as well as supporting transition in the SME lending market. She also supports in representing UK Finance on various subgroups of the national Working Group for Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates, including the Communications group.

Teresa Graham graduated from Newcastle University in 1977. (She was awarded a Fellowship in 2012). She qualified as a Chartered Accountant and, from December 1986 to August 1987, she was seconded to the UK Government’s Enterprise and Deregulation Unit reporting directly to Lord Young, the Secretary of State for Employment and then Trade and Industry.  In March 1988 she was appointed to the Government’s Deregulation Advisory Panel for a two-year term and served through two decades of administrations.

With her red tape hat on Teresa stepped down as Deputy Chair of the Government’s Better Regulation Commission (BRC) in 2008. She is currently Chairman of the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board of HMRC and was the senior independent Director of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Simplification until it closed down in 2023.

In terms of major pieces of work for Government, she completed a high-profile review on pre-packaged administrations for SoS Cable which was published in June 2014. Her publications also include a major piece of work on litigation and compensation for the Lord Chancellor, an independent review for the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Small Firm’s Loan Guarantee Scheme and a ground-breaking study for the Prime Minister, “Less is More”.  She was also a member of the Financial Reporting Council Group which produced “Louder Than Words” – a study into the complexity of corporate reporting.

More recently she was part of the advisory board appointed by Sir John Kingman in the BEIS Review of the Financial Reporting Council with specific responsibility for the area of audit quality.

She was also a past member of the Accounting Standards Board’s Committee for Accounting for Smaller Entities (CASE); a past member of the Government’s Ministerial Group on Access Business; past Chairman of the RSA’s Educational Policy Committee; past member of the Advisory Committee of the Office for National Statistics, a non executive member of the Steering Board of the DTI’s Small Business Service, and a member of the DTI’s Small Business Council.

During her time as NED of the British Business Bank she chaired both their risk and remco committees, was a member of the audit committee and led a review of two of the Bank’s products to ensure they remained fit for purpose.

She holds a number of appointments, including non-executive, mentoring and advisory roles in growth businesses. In particular, as Chair of the award-winning company Salix Finance Limited holding funds of approximately £1bn on behalf of BEIS for allocation to the public sector to invest in energy saving schemes on their estates, winning awards including Financier of the Year, Finance Product of the Year and the best not-for-profit to work with in the UK. She also Chair’s the SME Advisory Committee of UK Finance, the professional body representing the 300 largest funders in the UK including the big 4 banks. She chairs the Public Interest Committee of professional services firm, RSM.

Teresa received the honour of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 honours list for services to small businesses. She was awarded a CBE in the 2007 honours list for public service and an OBE in the 1997 honours list for services to better regulation and the small firm’s sector.

Lee is currently Director of Economic Insight and Research at UK Finance, and is responsible the collection and dissemination of data relating to the support the finance sector provides to business and households. She is also responsible for the programme of research and analysis which informs UK Finance's policy and representation activities. Lee's career has focused on understanding business performance and the impact of policy on decision-making and outcomes, she was previously Deputy Director at the Enterprise Research Centre and Chief Economist at EEF, the manufactures? organisation (now Make UK).

Milly has enjoyed a successful career in board level roles in complex organisations, leading large-scale public facing operations and strategic functions, notably stakeholder relations, spanning from the senior judiciary to regulators and corporates. In consultancy, she has advised organisations at board and executive level and delivered transformational change in national organisations and large service providers, including London boroughs, NDPBs and charities. She has been CEO of the IFT since 2019, where she has enhanced the member offer, strengthened and grown corporate partnerships, and built out the profile and stakeholder relationships of the Institute.

Caroline Norbury, MBE is the founding Chief Executive of Creative UK and dedicated to championing the creative industries. Creative UK invests in and supports creative ideas, talent and businesses, harnessing the power of the creative sector to build a fairer, more prosperous world.

Creative UK uses its extensive membership and networks in the creative industries to advocate for change, building the right environment for the future of the sector.

Caroline sits on the Creative Industries Council and chairs the Investment for Growth working-group of the Council.  She is a non-executive director of Crowdfunder, the UK’s largest rewards-based crowdfunding platform; a member of BAFTA and the Royal Society of Arts; the Chairwoman of the charity, The Music Works, and a trustee for the PRS Foundation, a charity supporting new music and talent.  She is a Creative Ally for the BBC and has an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex and the Arts University Bournemouth.

Douglas Johnson-Poensgen is co-founder and CEO of Circulor.

Circulor offers a software solution that enables its customers to track raw materials through industrial supply chains to demonstrate responsible sourcing and sustainability.    

Doug has 25 years international experience working both in leadership roles for large corporates as well as starting and growing companies.

Paul has been Head of Policy at the Insolvency Service since August 2018. Prior to that he headed the UK Company Law Framework team in BEIS were he was also responsible for the policy output of Companies House. His previous roles in BEIS were in the Better Regulation Executive where he played a key role in the then Government’s deregulatory agenda in programmes such as the Red Tape Challenge and the One-In, One-Out regulatory rule. Prior to that he worked in competition law framework team where he played a key role in the merger of the then OFT and Competition Commission to become the Competition and Markets Authority. Paul also had responsibility for merger policy including operational decisions on large public interest mergers such as the Lloyds takeover of HBOS during the financial crash, and various high profile media mergers such as the acquisitions of the Independent and Evening Standard, and the attempted takeover of Sky by News Corp.

Kerry is an Area Director in the Regional Banking Team working closely with SMEs to support them with all of their banking and finance needs. Her role covers a number of stores within the Midlands and Yorkshire Region including the Leicester Store which opened in February this year.

In addition, as part of Metro Banks commitment to the Investing In Women Code, Kerry leads a team of colleagues across Metro Bank who are responsible for delivering key actions to support female business owners’ start-up and scale up their business.

Kerry has worked in business and commercial banking for over 30 years and is married with two grown up daughters

Ravi’s involvement in a range of financial markets and businesses ensures ThinCats occupies an increasingly unique position in the SME funding landscape.

Ravi has a wide-ranging role from setting strategic direction to heading up the day to day funding activities for the group, as well as overseeing credit, including chairing the investment committee.

Ravi has more than 30 years of financial services experience. He has created businesses and led numerous corporate transactions, in senior roles at boutique investment bank, Dexion Capital, start up to growth asset manager, New Star, and with traditional big company experience from HSBC Investment Bank, Flemings and KPMG

Ciaran has over 25 years’ experience in the banking sector across Belfast, Dublin and London in a series of disciplines including Public Affairs and Investment Management. Since 2009, Ciaran has specialised in Government lending programmes and other Government initiatives to support funding provision to UK plc, esp. to SMEs. In this regard, Ciaran took a pro-active role in the industry’s response to COVID-19 and continues to engage with a wide and varied range of stakeholders, including the British Business Bank (BBB) and HMG. Ciaran has a particular interest in Northern Irish economic development and growth. 

Tim is part of the team that in 2017 acquired the master franchisee and development agreement for the UK from Burger King Europe. He worked with Bridgepoint Advisors on the funding of the transaction and the acquisition of the largest UK franchisee. Since then, Tim has led the acquisition of 5 further franchisees and the business has grown to revenues of circa £200m. Prior to that he has over 20 years’ experience in the hospitality sector, operating at board level across a range of sectors including pubs, hotels, contract and concession catering and casual dining in companies such as Groupe Elior and Casual Dining Group.

Tim has significant experience with private equity backed businesses including M&A and debt transactions. He has a successful record of creating and implementing strategies and change, including growth through new site roll out and buy and build strategies.

Tim was Chairman of the Climate Action Leadership Team for Business in the Community for 3 years and now sits on the Global Goals leadership Team with a responsibility for environmental matters. He also sits on the Advisory Board of UK Hospitality and the Hospitality Sector Council, where he chairs the Sustainability Committee.

David Ridley is a Debt Finance partner in White & Case LLP’s New York office with a focus on leveraged finance and private credit.  

Ingrid York is a Capital Markets partner in White & Case LLP’s London office with a focus on derivatives and structured finance.

James Hardy is a Debt Finance partner in White & Case LLP’s London office with a focus on emerging market lending, structured finance and structured trade and commodity finance.

Ian Cuillerier is a Capital Markets partner in White & Case LLP’s New York office with a focus on derivatives and structured finance.

Graham Silnicki is a Debt Finance associate in White & Case LLP’s New York office with a focus on leveraged finance and other bank lending.

Corporate Banker with significant years’ experience working across the private, public and not for profit sectors. Wendy is passionate about preserving the planet through responsible business and sustainability by supporting clients, prospects and colleagues navigate the “just” transition to net zero.

Reinald de Monchy heads up Guarantee & Wholesale Solutions (GWS) which is responsible for the design and delivery of wholesale funding and capital solutions to help increase the flow of finance to smaller businesses.

GWS’s products are developed to help SME lenders to provide additional loans to SMEs in a more capital and/or funding efficient way. Prior to the pandemic, GWS’s main products included ENABLE Funding and ENABLE Guarantees as well as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme. During the pandemic, EFG was replaced by CBILS and CLBILS and now by the Recovery Loan Scheme which are also managed by GWS.

Prior to joining the British Business Bank, Reinald was Head of SME, Corporate and Leveraged Loan Securitisation at Lloyds Bank.

Reinald holds a Masters degree in Econometrics from the University of Amsterdam.

Tim joins UKEF from HSBC, where he spent 34 years in a variety of roles.

Tim has an international outlook and proven track record helping customers expand their business internationally. At HSBC, he managed businesses across Europe, the Americas and the Middle East and North Africa, and was most recently the Global Head of Transaction Banking for the bank’s Global Banking division.

Tim is Head of UKEF’s Business Group, which is central to UKEF’s mission to support viable UK exports when private sector finance or insurance is unavailable. The Business Group is responsible for working with customers to orchestrate and execute transactions that stimulate exports. 

Rain Newton-Smith is the Chief Economist at the Confederation of British Industry and a member of its Executive Committee. She leads our economics and international teams, with a focus on economic and tax policy, the transition to a low carbon, sustainable economy and global business leadership. She and her team provide business leaders with advice on the UK economic outlook and global risks, helping to develop the economic policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Previously, Rain was head of Emerging Markets at Oxford Economics where she managed a large team of economists and was the lead expert on China. She provided macroeconomic forecasts and analysis on China's role in the global economy and the development of Asia, helping a range of companies and international financial institutions to expand into new markets and grow their business. Prior to that, Rain worked on the international forecast for the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England and also led a team with responsibility for developing a risk assessment framework for the UK financial system.

While at the Bank, she also went on secondment to the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C. where she was adviser to the UK executive director. Rain was honoured by the World Economic Forum in 2012 as a Young Global Leader and she is a member of their Global Future Council on Monetary and Fiscal Policy.  She is also an independent, Non-Executive Director at the F&C Investment Trust.

A native Australian, residing in the UK after having studied in Malaysia and worked in Spain for many years, John’s career has always been linked to the international sphere. His 25 years spent with the Santander Group across several different divisions and geographies of the bank have afforded him a unique set of experiences and skills on International Business, providing clear insight into the challenges and opportunities faced by international trading companies. He also acts as Chair of the International Chambers of Commerce’s new UK Trade and Investment Policy Committee since 2016. John and his team have recently launched The Santander Navigator platform. A revolutionary digital portal that supports businesses to trade internationally, tailoring the digital experience to the business’s specific needs. Thanks to insights gained from Santander’s Trade Barometer research, this platform supports the UK economy and post-COVID-19 recovery by drawing on business confidence in future growth.

Chris Southworth is Secretary General at the International Chamber of Commerce UK and a regular voice for business in the international media. He is also Co-Chair of the Legal Reform Advisory Board at the ICC Digital Standards Initiative, Director of the Secretariat for the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Trade and Export Promotion and ICC Representative to The Commonwealth. He is a member of the ICC World Council as well as the International Advisory Boards of the Digital Trade Network and Queen Mary-UNIDROIT Institute of Transnational Commercial Law.

Chris is a leading international expert on creating modern digital trade ecosystems, the founder of the ICC Digital Trade Roadmap, a member of the global team supporting the ICC Digital Standards Initiative, ICC G7 United Kingdom representative, a member of the ICC G7, G20, Digitisation and Ecommerce Working Groups. He is also a lead independent adviser to the UK government on the digitisation of trade on behalf of industry working with the Department for International Trade, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Her Majesty’s Treasury and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Prior to joining ICC, he was Executive Director for Global Partnerships, at the British Chambers of Commerce, Head of the International Chambers of Commerce Unit at UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and a Senior Policy Advisor to Lord Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister, for his independent review of UK competitiveness. In 2011 he was advisor to the Minister for Trade and Investment for the government review of mid-size businesses and consequent establishment of the mid-size business export programme. Former roles have encompassed deregulatory and social enterprise policy at the Department for Business.

Geoff is the Group Chief Executive Officer and is a Certified Accountant and Licensed Insolvency Practitioner with 30 years' experience including at firms RSM Robson Rhodes and PKF.

Geoff is a Partner in the London Restructuring Advisory team and was joint founder of the business in 2010. Outside of management responsibilities his focus is on dealing with corporate restructuring assignments acting for a range of stakeholders including boards, lenders and investors.

Recent UK and international assignments have included BHS, Force India Formula One Team, Patisserie Valerie, London Capital & Finance, a significant PFI project arising from the failure of Carillion and most recently Koovs plc.
 

Fiona is Managing Director of the Northern Region in Close Brothers Invoice Finance. With nearly 25 years industry experience, Fiona joined Close Brothers nearly 20 years ago as a Relationship Manager in the Manchester Office.

Fiona is proud of her growing team based in Manchester and is often asked to speak on panels due to her extensive experience in the ABL market.

Jill’s background is business management. Jill became the first female Serjeant at Arms in the House of Commons in 2008. Her passion is to help people to develop, grow and succeed, from primary school children struggling to learn to read through to female entrepreneurs finding their way in business and female senior managers seeking to join the Board. 

Jill is Chairman of Trustees of the Coram Beanstalk literacy charity and a volunteer reading helper. She is a founder member of Savvitas, a network for women in business affiliated to Parliament, and she chairs the Savvitas Senate.

Jill is Chairman of The Gender Index, a ground breaking study into UK female entrepreneurship with the ambition to create a fairer future.

Emily has nearly 15 years’ of experience in debt origination, debt structuring and debt advisory obtained via a number of roles serving large corporate and international customers both at NatWest and Macquarie bank. Emily has worked and led teams across a variety of sectors and markets including Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Trade and Asset Based Lending, Leveraged Finance and Infrastructure Finance. Most recently in October 2020, Emily joined NatWest’s Restructuring division as Head of Complex & International Restructuring and now leads an experienced team of restructuring professionals focussed on transactions in the Large Corporate markets. Emily is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a First Class Degree from Loughborough University in International Business.

Tom is responsible for Morgan Stanley’s transition efforts to alternative reference rates to replace LIBOR through the firm’s Global LIBOR Transition Steering Committee. This group, spanning ISG, Wealth Management and Investment Management, will ensure that all businesses and infrastructure organizations have a consistent set of Firm-level guidelines, their own transition plans and accountability for transition readiness by June 2023. 

Tom is a member of the firm’s Securities Operating Committee, Risk Management Committee and Asset/ Liability Management Committee. 
Beginning his career in the industry in 1977, Tom joined Morgan Stanley in 1986. Based in New York, Tom has also completed multi-year assignments in Morgan Stanley’s London and Tokyo offices.

Prior to being named Vice Chairman, Tom was the Global Head of the Bank Resource Management Division where he was responsible for the firm's secured funding, securities lending, global hedging and collateral management activities. 

In April 2019, Tom was named Chair of the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) by the Federal Reserve Board. The ARRC is a group of private-market participants convened to help ensure a successful transition from USD LIBOR to a more robust reference rate. Tom was appointed to the ARRC in 2014. 
Tom was appointed Chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC) Interest Rate Benchmark Reform Subcommittee in October 2018.

In May 2021, Tom joined the Bank of Canada’s Canadian Alternative Reference Rate Working Group (CARR). The CARR is responsible for the implementation of the recommendations of the Official Sector Steering Group (OSSG) for Canada.

Tom currently serves on the board of directors of International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA). He served as Chair of the Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG) from November 2007 to May 2019. 

Tom previously served on the Financial Research Advisory Committee to the US Treasury Office of Financial Research from 2012 to 2017.