Aussie enforcer set to bring ‘firm hand’ to the UK

Mark Steward, executive director of enforcement at the SFC, is set to join his former colleague Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA, as director of enforcement from September.

Australian Mr Steward, nicknamed ‘The Aussie Enforcer’, comes with a reputation for being ’uncompromising’ – he won the Hong Kong SFC’s first criminal convictions for insider dealing.

Alan Ewins, special counsel for Asia at Allen & Overy, said: “He has been a firm hand on the enforcement tiller in Hong Kong. Some would say a heavy hand, but he has proved to be more prefect than bully in a highly active and challenging market.

“Everyday strong enforcement action by a combination of intensive regulatory investigations of banks together with continuing hardline prosecutions and disciplinary cases are a hallmark of Mr Steward’s tenure. It is difficult to see his zeal being diminished or curbed in London, particularly in view of his renewed collaboration with Mr Wheatley.”

One of Mr Steward’s prominent wins was the Tiger Asia case, where the SFC asked the civil courts to freeze some of the hedge fund’s assets and ban it from trading in the city’s financial markets after it was alleged to have engaged in insider dealing.

In 2013 Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal dismissed the fund’s bid to overturn the decision. Mr Ewins said this demonstrated the SFC’s desire under Mr Steward to pursue wrongdoers vigorously using all legal tactics.

Georgina Philippou has been acting director of enforcement since January when Tracey McDermott replaced Clive Adamson as supervision director. Once Mr Steward arrives, Ms Philippou will return to her previous role as director of strategy and delivery.

Adam Samuel, a London-based regulatory lawyer who has worked in Hong Kong, said: “It is obvious that Mr Wheatley has been trying to get him for years, but I would be wary of the cult of personality in regulation. With Hong Kong and the UK you are comparing apples with pears.

“The FCA needs a head of enforcement who can take over a battered department that has been handing out headline fines but failed to get any individuals. The FCA is failing desperately on the individual accountability agenda and all it is doing is moving money from financial institutions to the Treasury.”

CV Snapshot

Mr Steward joined the SFC in 2006 from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

During this time he worked with Mr Wheatley who was chief executive of the SFC between 2006 and 2011.

He graduated from the University of Melbourne with a degree in law in 1989.

Adviser view

Scott Gallagher, an adviser with Leicester-based Rowley Turton, said: “The thing with the FCA is that a lot of its regulation is after the horse has bolted.

“I don’t think having someone with teeth is a bad idea but we will still have a largely tick-box regulatory environment.”