Helping Customers in Financial Difficulty Conference 2026

Giles Andrews is a senior UK Economist at Santander UK providing economic analysis, scenario analysis, forecasts and commentary on the UK economy and principal retail financial business markets.  His areas of focus and interest include deposits trends, the corporate sector, housing and public finances.  Prior to joining Santander UK, he worked at Haver Analytics and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Phone number: 07902042120

David Cheadle is Head of Debt Delivery at the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), overseeing a portfolio of contracts and grants, delivering national and community-based debt advice services that will support over 700,000 people in 2026. MaPS delivers through partners including Citizens Advice, Money Advice Trust and Money Wellness. David has over 20 years'  experience in direct delivery of debt advice services including as former Chief Operating Officer of the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline and Business Debtline. 

David is a Non-Executive Director for Auriga Services Limited and Trustee of Evnia Charitable Trust, organisations that help people in financial hardship. 

Ian Cheatle is a Senior Manager in Customer Propositions at Nationwide Building Society. He has worked in a variety of product and proposition roles at Nationwide, building extensive experience in developing customer-focused products and services. His current role covers a range of customer proposition activity, including the Nationwide and Virgin Money benefits-checking service.

I joined NatWest in 1991 straight from university and have built a broad range of experience across the organisation over the course of my career. During that time, I have undertaken a variety of roles, including Team Leader, Supplier Management, Unsecured Strategy Development and Product Owner, giving me a well-rounded understanding of both customer and business needs across different areas of the bank.

In my current role as Product Owner, I am responsible for the Unsecured and Mortgage Litigation customer journey. This encompasses the end-to-end experience for customers who enter the recoveries process, from the early stages of financial difficulty through to litigation, repossession and asset disposal where required. My role involves working closely with a wide range of stakeholders to continually improve customer outcomes, ensure regulatory compliance and deliver effective, customer-focused solutions.

What I enjoy most about my role is the opportunity to make a positive difference for customers during some of the most challenging periods of their lives. I am passionate about helping customers manage and restore their financial health while ensuring they receive the best possible experience and support. By balancing customer needs with business objectives, I strive to deliver journeys that are fair, compassionate and effective, helping customers navigate difficult circumstances with confidence and clarity.

Rachel East is Group Head of Strategy at Together, where she helps shape the future direction of the business through growth, transformation and strategic partnerships. Having spent more than 20 years in financial services, Rachel has worked across some of the UK's leading financial institutions and is passionate about building strategies that create lasting value for customers, colleagues and the wider business.

Gareth McNab is a respected professional within UK financial services, known for his extensive work in consumer credit, debt management, and financial inclusion, recently joining UK Finance as Principal in the Consumer Credit team, focusing on areas like debt advice funding and UK wide debt solutions. Previously, he held roles at organizations like Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and Nationwide, advocating for vulnerable customers and tackling poverty, bringing deep expertise in policy, strategic comms, and social change to his current role at the industry body. 

Over 20 years of mortgage experience with a specialism in the non-conforming and distressed debt sector. Erin has a background in originations and servicing with both in-house and a third-party servicing experience across the UK & Ireland most recently at LiveMore Oversees loan servicing operations, arrears management and customer lifecycle governance across regulated portfolios. Recent roles include Director of Asset Management and Head of Servicing Former Director of Asset Management at Intrum Mortgages (formerly Mars Capital Finance) leading structured credit, RMBS transactions and platform transformation

Matthew joined the University of Cambridge in 2014, where he teaches research methods and researches the relationship between finance, personal debt and social inequalities. His research spans the arrears and collections landscape: earlier work focused on unsecured credit use and debt collection practices, while more recent research examines mortgage arrears, repossession, and the experiences of homeowners whose mortgages are held by closed-book mortgage firms.

His research has examined how credit scores shape people’s lives and why customers disengage from collections processes; how credit payment holidays during the pandemic eased pressure on people in debt and could reduce the need for collections activity; and how shame and moral judgement around debt affect people experiencing financial difficulty.

His research is widely published in social scientific journals and has been covered by the BBC, The Conversation, The Observer and the Financial Times Adviser. Before academia, Matthew worked as a Debt Advisor for StepChange Debt Charity.

Alison has over 25 years’ experience in retail financial services, spanning leadership roles in regulation, risk and conduct. She joined UK Finance as Director of Mortgages in June 2026.

Alison began her career at Deloitte in the Regulatory Consulting practice, before joining the Financial Conduct Authority as lead Conduct of Business Supervisor for a major banking group, where her work spanned policy and enforcement. She returned to industry at RBS, latterly leading conduct and business model analysis across the group, and went on to become Chief Compliance Officer at TSB Bank. She has since held risk leadership roles across banking, fintech and retail financial services, including Director of First Line Risk at Nationwide Building Society and Chief Risk Officer at John Lewis Financial Services, where she sat on the executive committee and chaired the Risk and Compliance Committee.

Alison is a Board member of the Consumer Duty Alliance, and a Board member and Audit Committee member of the Community Forest Trust, the charity that manages community woodland across England.

Nathan leads the Financial Services business for PolyAI, a leader in enterprise conversational AI that builds the world’s most impactful AI agents for customer experience. Prior to this he spent 10 years at HSBC where he led AI and strategic change initiatives to enhance customer experiences for the global International Wealth & Premier Banking (IWPB) business. Nathan's early career was spent at PwC Consulting where he worked on strategy and transformation projects across Financial Services and other sectors.

Matt qualified as an accountant with PwC before joining Forvis Mazars, where he went on to qualify as a licensed insolvency practitioner.

He is an active member of the R3 Personal Insolvency Committee and has more than 20 years’ experience working with lenders and creditors across the personal insolvency landscape. Matt takes a practical and collaborative approach to supporting customers in financial difficulty, helping creditors navigate challenging situations fairly and achieve appropriate, sustainable outcomes for their customers.

Amy Wenborn is the product owner for digital transformation in Financial Health & Support, focused on transforming how customers experiencing financial difficulty engage with financial services. Passionate about digital transformation, Amy works to design and deliver customer journeys that make support more accessible, personalised and effective, while ensuring that moments requiring empathy, reassurance and understanding remain distinctly human. Her work centres on balancing innovation with vulnerability, using technology to remove barriers and improve outcomes while keeping customer safety, trust and dignity at the heart of the experience.

Jane is a deputy director in HM Treasury and leads the Government Debt Management Function (GDMF) which oversees the government’s approach to debt across 40 government departments and arms-length bodies, recovering circa £100m annually. The GDMF ensures debt owed to government is managed efficiently, effectively and fairly by preventing avoidable debt from arising, resolving debt to clear standards and improving government capability.

Prior to working in government, she spent over 10 years in the debt advice sector - using insights from debt services to lead policy campaigns, shape service design and develop partnerships with financial services and utillities.  She also has a background in regulation and local government.

Heff advises banks, building societies and private banks on complex financial, regulatory and reputational disputes. He is particularly known for his work in secured lending, securitisation and recovery strategy, and is regularly instructed on strategic portfolio issues, receivership matters and high-profile customer disputes.

His practice spans secured lending, business banking, financial crime, insolvency, regulatory issues and complex customer disputes. He has a particular interest in economic abuse and the interaction between vulnerability, financial resilience and consumer outcomes.

Heff is known for his commercial, pragmatic approach and deep understanding of the financial services sector, developed through six client secondments and extensive in-house experience. He is recognised as a Next Generation Partner in The Legal 500.