London, England
Nick Cook is Chief Innovation Officer at AIR. Based in London, he was previously the Director of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Innovation Division, including the agency’s RegTech and TechSprint initiatives, its data and analytics strategy, machine learning endeavours, and the “Innovate” program (encompassing the Regulatory Sandbox, innovation and digital policy, and industry-facing direct support services).
In 2016, Nick was responsible for creating and developing the TechSprint as a new methodology for regulatory innovation and public/private collaboration, designing a model that is now widely emulated around the world. He has led TechSprints on challenges ranging from financial crime and regulatory reporting to financial access and inclusion, women’s economic empowerment, pensions, and money and mental health.
At AIR, Nick heads the TechSprint program and the nascent AIR Fair Finance Accelerator, working with partners and the innovation ecosystem to define its scope, governance, strategy, and activities. He helps develop AIR’s relationships with financial regulatory institutions globally and specifically in emerging markets, and he represents AIR in public forums through speaking and writing.
While at the FCA, Nick chaired the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN) and IOSCO's FinTech Network. He is a Certified Chartered Accountant with 9 years of forensic investigative experience at the both UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and KPMG. Prior to his innovation-focused roles, he investigated regulatory breaches in his time in the Enforcement Division of the FSA and conducted civil, criminal, and regulatory investigations of fraud, misconduct and other matters for private clients at KPMG.
Nick is also the founding Director of Sandbox Consulting Ltd, a UK-based boutique providing strategic advisory services in innovation, transformation and regulation in the financial services and public sectors in the UK and globally.
Nick describes himself as a technophile, is passionate about wellbeing and mental health, and is a father of two, coach to an under 10’s soccer team (or football as Nick would call it) and keen road cyclist, having taken up the sport in the first Covid-19 wave in the UK.
