Lucy Macdonald moderates a discussion with Laurence Fletcher, Simon Johnston, and James Wickes on the impact of the recent Gamestop phenomenon on the hedge fund industry, professional liability insurance policies, and underwriting claims and considerations issues already arising.

Listen below to the podcast, or listen on the PLUS Connect App:

 

 

Lucy Macdonald, Senior Underwriter, Financial Institutions, Aviva

Lucy Macdonald is a Senior Underwriter in the Financial Institutions team at Aviva plc and a member of the PLUS London committee. Lucy is a qualified solicitor and previously worked in the Financial Institutions insurance litigation team at RPC LLP, before moving in-house to claims and then underwriting roles, always focussing on financial institutions including asset managers, banks and insurance companies.

Laurence Fletcher, Capital Markets Correspondent, The Financial Times

Laurence covers markets and hedge funds for the Financial Times, and writes for the Tail Risk and Markets Insight sections. His work includes numerous exclusives about the collapse of $600m hedge fund Heather Capital, while his investigations into hedge fund Dynamic Decisions were part of a series that won a Gerald Loeb award, a New York Press Club award and a U.S. National Press Club award. He joined the FT in 2018, and previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Citywire and Bloomberg.

Simon Johnston, Head of Financial Institutions, Aviva

Simon Johnston is Head of Financial Institutions at Aviva. Simon has over 10 years of experience in the FI industry underwriting banks, insurance companies, asset managers and other FIs. Previously he was FI Major Accounts Manager at American International Group UK. Simon has a degree in mathematics from the University of Edinburgh.

 

 

James Wickes, Partner, RPC’s Professional and Financial Risks group

James specialises in defending claims against financial institutions and financial professionals. James is frequently involved in defending claims with an offshore or international dimension, including cross-border disputes. He specialises in disputes involving claims against directors & officers, corporate trustees/service providers, wealth managers, asset managers, investment managers, fund managers, stockbrokers, tax advisors, pensions/SIPP administrators, insurance brokers, and collateral managers. James also specialises in advising insurers/reinsurers on complex coverage disputes. His practice particularly involves advising financial and professional lines insurers in respect of claims under FI, PI, D&O, W&I and Crime / Fidelity insurance.