LPA expands UK team with two senior hires

Professional services firm LPA has expanded its UK consulting business with two new additional hires. Russell Chumbley arrives as a Director, while James Kirkham heads up the firm’s risk function.

With regulatory reporting challenges on the rise, along with pressure on banks and financial institutions to bring business models in sales and trading into the digital enabled era, international consultancy LPA helps financial services companies with digital transformation, increasing efficiency, competitiveness and maintaining full compliance. The firm’s coverage extends from its headquarters in Frankfurt, to 12 other international locations including Tel Aviv, London, Zürich, New York, Paris, Barcelona, Luxemburg and Singapore, employing over 400 technology and capital market experts.

The latest recruits to the firm are Russell Chumbley, joining as a Director in Capital Markets Consulting, Technology, Development & Transformation and James Kirkham – who becomes Head of UK Risk Function. The pair will be based out of LPA’s Canary Wharf office in London, where they join a rapidly growing team of consultants in the UK market. Building on its strong client base in continental Europe, LPA’s London office is rapidly becoming an important consulting hub for the firm, alongside Frankfurt and Zurich, with plans to grow the team further in 2022.

Mark Reeves, Senior Advisor at LPA who recently joined himself, said, “We welcome talent the calibre of James and Russell as we continue on our growth trajectory in the UK. Their vast capital markets knowledge and experience overseeing client relationships, strategy, architecture and implementation will help establish LPA as a leader in software solutions and consulting and take our UK business to new heights.”

Chumbley brings over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, most recently in an independent advisory and consultancy capacity covering industry insight, fintech and digital transformation. Prior to this, he was at Nomura International, where he last served as their Global Head of Enterprise Data and Corporate Technology (MD), working with business clients to innovate, transform and deliver large scale change to improve the customer experience, strengthen controls and increase operational efficiency.

“Disruptive forces are changing capital markets and posing major challenges for the financial services industry,” said Chumbley. “LPA has been driving the digitalization of the capital market business for over 20 years, and I look forward to supporting clients in the analysis, planning, development and implementation of digital technologies.” 

Kirkham meanwhile is an experienced Lead Risk Management Systems Consultant with over 30 years of experience in delivering risk management change programmes for some of the world’s largest banks, including HSBC, UBS and Santander. He is an expert in risk model development and deployment for PIT/TTC PD, EAD and LGD models for both regulatory capital and IFRS9 provisioning, including recent QIS/PRA stress testing, and has supported a variety of Basel change programmes.

Remarking on his new challenge, Kirkham said, “I am excited to join LPA at a time of unprecedented change in financial markets. The scale and reach of the LPA network, alongside the skills of our software and consulting teams in areas spanning advanced technologies, credit risk and change management, present a much sought-after capability to our clients and the wider capital markets industry.”