Allen & Overy is expanding its regulatory consulting business, A&O Consulting, to Australia with the appointment of Lee Alam a new Partner to head the practice.

‘Timely’ move

A&O Consulting was launched in London in September 2018 with the hire of Sally Dewar as its chief executive officer who leads the business globally. It is designed to fill the gap in the market with advisors that have both in-depth legal and technical expertise from regulatory, firm and professional services backgrounds providing strategic and practical advice to clients on improving regulatory relationships, their regulatory remediation programmes, as well as the scope and scale to deliver tailored business outcomes. Jason Denisenko, managing partner of Allen & Overy Sydney, commented ‘the establishment of this new advisory discipline in Australia is timely in the post-Royal Commission environment of increased regulatory scrutiny. Our clients have asked for a broader advisory capability to complement our market-leading legal practice, which will be answered through Lee’s expertise in regulatory affairs and conduct risk.”

More appointments expected

Mr Alam will join A&O Consulting from Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), where he was the general manager of global regulatory affairs. In this role he was responsible for managing CBA’s regulatory approach and change projects throughout the period of AUSTRAC proceedings, APRA Inquiry and the Royal Commission inquiry. Previously he was a managing director of JP Morgan Australia, responsible for the initial design and roll-out of its global culture and conduct risk program and other strategic regulatory programs. Before that he spent twelve years as the Manager Markets Division, Financial Conduct Authority (London), the UK financial services industry’s principal regulator and has also spent a year as a senior executive at ASIC in its Market Regulation Division. Mr Alam’s appointment is the first of a number of planned appointments internationally.