Interview: Drew Dadds, Financial Conduct Authority, UK IT Industry Awards finalist
'Our goal is to ensure that markets operate with integrity, promote effective competition, and protect consumers of financial services'
Information technology (IT) contributes to the development and expansion of the commerce and business sector and helps to maximise possible output. The time taken by various sectors to generate business has decreased as a result of advancement in the IT field.
The UK IT Industry Awards are the largest and most well-known event in the technology industry calendar. Owned and operated by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and Computing, the awards enjoy a level of professionalism and industry knowledge not seen at other shows.
This year's winners will be announced at a live awards ceremony on Wednesday 9th November in London.
One of the finalists is Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which has reached the shortlist for not just one or two, but five categories: Business Analyst of the Year; IT Apprentice of the Year; Best Financial Services IT Project of the Year; Best Technology Refresh Project of the Year; and Best User Engagement Project of the Year.
We talked to with Drew Dadds, Technical Specialist, Business Analyst Team, EMO, ESG & International at FCA, to find out what are they working on this year.
Dadds has been at the FCA for over 10 years as a Business Analyst. He has worked on a number of different projects ranging from the introduction of new financial regulations such as MiFID II, to CRM changes, process improvement and operating model reviews in the FCAs Enforcement and Market Oversight division. He also leads on the development of process simulation models, and he is a keen exponent of Systems Thinking methodologies and practises.
Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers.
Drew Dadds: FCA is the regulator for the majority of the UK's financial services firms. Our goal is to ensure that markets operate with integrity; promote effective competition; and protect consumers of financial services. The team I am part of is aligned with our Enforcement and Market Oversight division, so many projects our team are involved in are connected to the FCA's work in monitoring of financial markets and investigation and prosecution of misconduct in financial services. An interesting additional element to our remit has been the work we are doing on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy, supporting the financial sector in driving positive change, including the transition to net zero.
What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
The Supporting Accessibility Needs (SAN) Project has been a really well received piece of work from colleagues across the FCA. In support of making the FCA an employer of choice and a more effective regulator, a key strategic aim of the FCA is our internal and external diversity and inclusion agenda. The FCA is building an inclusive environment, and accessibility is key to enabling this.
Accessibility is about making sure our technology can be used by as many people as possible. Inaccessible information technology negatively impacts people with a variety of challenges that can negatively impact people with both acute and chronic conditions, such as visual impairment or a short-term mobility issue. Additionally, it is about ensuring that colleagues with disabilities can work in a similar amount of time and effort as someone that does not have a disability. The project has made great strides in both improving our IT support to those with accessibility needs, but also in raising awareness of the issue inside and outside the FCA.
What are you working on this year?
I've finished a project that was supporting our intelligence and whistleblowing teams with a refresh of our Intelligence Management System. I'm now working on another refresh project, this time focused on market surveillance. At the FCA, we receive millions of lines of transaction and order-book data every day, so we need systems that can identify patterns of behaviour that could indicate insider dealing or market manipulation. This links to our objectives for supporting trusted, orderly and efficient primary and secondary markets in the UK. The FCA already has a sophisticated surveillance capability but we're looking to build further on this.
Why are events like the UK IT Industry Awards important to the IT industry?
It's always a good opportunity to recognise those who have excelled in the delivery of IT projects and innovation and made a difference in delivering success for a wide range of business, and sectors of the economy. Whether you are successful in winning an award or not, it's immensely rewarding to be recognised by your peers in the industry, and goes a long way to showing just how much value we bring to business and society and how much we have to be proud of.
The UK IT Industry Awards will take place on 9th November in London. Click here to view the shortlist and here to book your table.