FRA Appoints Becky Stones and Rob Mason as Partners to launch Financial Institutions Group
Today, FRA announces that Becky Stones and Rob Mason have joined the company to enhance its financial services offering. By bringing Becky and Rob on board, FRA now offers expert transaction and portfolio level risk management, valuation and structural advice and analysis and, importantly, experienced practitioner insight for investment banks and the wider financial institutions market.
Becky Stones and Rob Mason are industry veterans. Each has over 20 years of capital markets experience gained at leading investment banks at Managing Director level. Their experience covers risk, valuation and controls, as well as trading and structuring. They also have substantial forensic investigative experience gained conducting and leading internal investigations at top tier banks. Both have had extensive interface with executive board level committees, audit committees, regulators across US and European jurisdictions, and internal and external legal counsel.
Becky Stones, comments, "There is an unprecedented increase in regulatory scrutiny and enforcement targeting the financial services sector. Billions of dollars in fines, corporate guilty pleas and individual prosecutions are daily news. We understand and are able to explain the arcane and complex and assist Financial Institutions and their counsel respond to unprecedented enforcement trends."
Frances McLeod, Founding partner, concludes, "We are delighted to welcome Becky and Rob to FRA. They are recognized and respected industry leaders and have an in-depth knowledge of a very topical but complex area. Investment banks are being overwhelmed by huge mortgage, off-shore tax evasion, and LIBOR investigations and settlements, with concerns mounting over regulatory focus on Forex, HFT and gold price fixing. This is a highly specialist area and Rob and Becky excel in demystifying, explaining and quantifying the sometimes esoteric workings of the financial sector which is invaluable in the context of regulatory investigations and litigation. These skills, in combination with FRA's broader forensic and regulatory experience, will allow us to offer compelling independent proposition to clients in the financial institutions market."
