Michael is a senior executive in the field of risk and regulation in the financial services sector, with a strong focus on insurance. He has a deep understanding of business models in the insurance sector and the related risks.

He has founded Sicsic Advisory, the London based boutique consultancy focusing on financial services risk and regulation, in 2019. His team has a unique combination of expertise gained through direct industry experience, consulting roles and regulatory supervision leadership role in the UK insurance market.

Before setting up his own company, Michael spent 4 years at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as head of supervision for the general insurance retail sector. Formerly, Michael spent five years at Aviva Plc. as Global Operational Risk Director covering Life Insurance, Asset Management and Non-Life insurance. Previously, he worked over 10 years at GE Capital in various senior risk and finance positions across commercial and corporate finance activities.

He has extensive international experience covering credit risk modelling and capital allocation, financial risk and ALM, operational risk management and quantification, conduct of business, financial crime compliance and M&A activity across multiple jurisdictions.

He is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Insurers.

Areas of expertise:

Enterprise Risk Management and prudential requirement

Insurance Business Model and General Insurance Pricing

Regulatory Affairs

Governance, Culture & Conduct

Operational Risk Management and Quantification

Michael has been instrumental in the set-up of Sicsic Advisory, and he is now a Board Director.
Michael is an experienced Executive and Non-Executive director in Financial Services, and he is currently the Chair of Risk Committee of a PLC lending business.

His career spans over 35 years in the Financial Services industry, with executive Board and current independent NED experience. He has chaired and served as a member of Risk, Audit, Investment and Remuneration Board committees across general insurance, life & pensions, investments, mortgage, consumer and SME credit sectors.

Michael has been a risk and finance executive (CRO, Finance Director, Strategy Director) in blue chip firms (AIG, Flood Re, Prudential, GE Capital, Abbey National) and a senior consultant (KPMG and Promontory).

He has experience in setting up regulated firms, new authorisations and new management functions, including business plans and ensuring regulatory threshold conditions are met. He also has both M&A and business turnaround experience.

Michael is a UK qualified Chartered Accountant a member of the Institute of Risk Management.

Areas of expertise:

Governance

Culture and conduct

Prudential risk

Regulatory relationship management

Nadege is a regulatory and governance expert with specific experience of general insurance and complaints handling. Since setting up as a consultant in 2015, Nadege has advised financial services across a number of issues, including governance, risk management, remediation and regulatory engagement.

Prior to working as a consultant, she spent 16 years at the FCA, working in a variety of roles, across prudential, conduct, policy and supervision of investment and insurance firms. In her last role at the regulator, she was the head of the conduct policy department responsible for the regulatory standards on general insurance, banking and payments, mortgage lending, consumer credit, redress, governance and professionalism. She was also responsible for the relationship with the FOS and the FSCS.

Areas of expertise:

Governance

Regulatory Affairs

Neil has more than 30 years’ experience in the insurance sector and has extensive underwriting, pricing and governance knowledge.

Prior to joining Sicsic Advisory, he worked at Allianz for 18 years in a variety of senior management and executive roles. He spent the last six years as Chief Underwriting Officer, setting underwriting, pricing and data strategies in a highly regulated and data driven environment.

Neil is experienced in establishing robust underwriting disciplines to deliver strong and resilient business performance, while creating an appropriate culture and supporting framework to embed and reinforce pragmatic technical standards.

Neil is an experienced business and people mentor and a former Non-Executive Director of the Fire Protection Association.

Areas of Expertise

Underwriting Excellence

Pricing Sophistication

Data Strategy

Governance

Hugh brings an extensive knowledge of the regulatory landscape and comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the insurance sector.

He spent 17 years as Director of Regulation at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), with accountability for relations between the insurance industry and the Bank of England on prudential regulation, for relations with the Financial Conduct Authority on conduct regulation, and for taxation issues affecting insurers.

At the ABI Hugh has held a number of Assistant Director roles, covering EU and international affairs, UK public affairs, ABI member relations and events and led significant international lobbying activity. He was temporary Director of Investment Affairs.

Before joining the ABI, Hugh worked for the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the finance and governance of the Department, managed EU affairs and negotiated key EU directives, represented the UK in Brussels and then the London end of the British presidency of the EU.

Areas of expertise:

Regulatory affairs

Operational resilience

Climate change

Post-Brexit evolution of Solvency II

Amy is our Head of Operations, and has over 15 years experience in the General Insurance sector. She has led complex business, regulatory and transformation programmes as well as holding roles in internal audit.

Amy led the implementation of the General Insurance Pricing Practices (GIPP) for one of the UK’s largest personal lines brokers. She was also responsible for a two-year programme of work to align existing processes to consumer credit regulation. This included the design and set up of a dedicated forbearance contact centre team, implementation of private credit data, improving digital and voice customer journeys as well as customer remediation and supporting controls and monitoring. During her time in Internal Audit, she designed and implemented processes to create better synergies between the internal audit methodology and the Agile development lifecycle that had been adopted in the business.

Amy has developed a wide range of skills during her career in financial services and brings a strong focus on process improvement, data usage and practical governance.

Sue is a senior consultant, focused on conduct, culture and governance, with extensive professional experience from small broker firms to large multinational banks and insurers.

With over 20 years’ financial services experience, Sue has a depth and breadth of regulatory knowledge gained in Big 4 and specialist consultancies, along with practical industry experience with roles as Head of Compliance with general insurers, insurance intermediaries and a mortgage and consumer credit firm.

Sue is leading our offering on pricing practices and she is currently assisting a range of firms in the development and implementation of their pricing practices and ’fair value’ assessment processes.
In addition, she has worked with a variety of firms in their implementation of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, and the Insurance Distribution Directive.

Sue has built and led Compliance functions at insurers, intermediaries, mortgage and consumer credit firms and managed a number of successful authorisations, for both UK (FCA) and Irish (CBI) entities.

Having started her career at Friends Provident in 1997, she gained her ACII qualification and was an examiner for the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Areas of expertise:

Pricing practices

Consumer credit

SM&CR

Compliance function and framework

Martin is a seasoned risk and finance professional with over 25 years of experience in the financial services sector, with a strong focus on Insurance. His experience within the insurance industry extends to having worked with Underwriters, Brokers and Price Comparison Websites in both the Life and General Insurance Sectors.

Martin was the Group Risk Director at BGL Group (Compare the Market), covering both the Group’s Broker and Price Comparison business. Previously he worked for RSA Group for nearly 14 years as both Group Capital Manager where he developed a deep understanding of risk and capital modelling before taking up the position of Group ERM Director.

He has an excellent track record in leading strategic change including having successfully implemented two fully integrated Enterprise Risk Management Frameworks across two separate businesses.

Martin is also a qualified ACA, where he gained his first experience of the financial services sector as an Audit Manager at Price Waterhouse.

Areas of expertise:

Operational resilience

Risk management

Risk & capital