PwC's Lawrence Deju-Wiseman on Regulation, FTX and How to Rebuild Trust

The recent Finance Magnates London Summit was a special affair. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the event was memorable for many reasons. One of which, for me, was interviewing Lawrence Deju-Wiseman.

Lawrence is a Director for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the global billion-dollar corporation servicing the world's largest organisations, and someone who leads on their market abuse surveillance and financial services conduct, specifically with emerging risks.

The instantly-likeable Lawrence has a wealth of experience in the FX scene with stints at HSBC, Deutsche Bank and BP. He was a former faculty lecturer and currently serves as a part-time professor at the University of Connecticut School of Business.

Additionally, Lawrence is one of those people that when you find out you are sitting near or next to him at a social event, you give a little unabashed fist pump because you know you are in for an interesting evening. The man oozes enthusiasm and knowledge on his subject, and I couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous towards his students, who get the pleasure of listening to Lawrence on a regular basis.

On How to Build Trust Following the FTX Fallout

When ambushed immediately on the implications of the FTX collapse, Lawrence provided some level-headed broader context and talked of the need to develop the culture, as well as the technology.

"Technology is not going to solve conduct problems on its own yeah and equally culture isn't going to solve the conduct problems without the technology to support it, so it's going to be two streams that are going to fix this."

Check out the FMLS22 interview with Lawrence Deju-Wiseman.

Lawrence was more optimistic than most about the FTX fallout, saying: "As long as people look to learn from it, it can be hugely beneficial to that market in the long run."

Attention then turned to the crypto sphere and particularly the evolvement of regulation surrounding digitized assets.

"I say over and over again is what's unethical today is often illegal tomorrow, and so the question we should be asking crypto is what
is the right thing to be doing to build a trustable financial services environment."

Lawrence then spoke of the different resources and focuses that regulators have, highlighting the importance of the upcoming EU crypto regulations in a few months "that is going to provide really important guidance" he asserted.

The Importance of Education and Risk Assessment

We spoke about Lawrence's role as a part-time professor at the University of Connecticut School of Business and the need for across-the-board education in the crypto and financial markets.

Lawrence then talked passionately about the importance of risk assessment processes, ending an enjoyable and informative interview with some sound advice: "If you are not sure about the robustness of your risk assessment process, ask for help."

The interview ended, and Lawrence disappeared into the FMLS crowd to educate and entertain others.