Events Archive

ACi Banking Forum : Enforcement is Changing

Maintaining High Investigation Standards in a Shifting Regulatory and Geopolitical Landscape

As global enforcement priorities evolve and geopolitical tensions reshape regulatory expectations, investigation teams face mounting pressure to uphold rigorous standards in increasingly complex environments.

This panel, moderated by Priya Giuliani (Partner, HKA), brings together senior legal and investigations leaders to explore how banks can maintain investigative integrity, independence and quality amid heightened scrutiny, cross‑border risk and public interest.

Through candid discussion and real‑world insight, panellists will examine how enforcement trends are changing, what regulators now expect from investigation functions, and how institutions can future‑proof their approaches without losing professional judgement at the point of decision‑making.

Panel Speakers

Jamas Hodivala KC, Matrix Chambers
Tom Littlechild, Assistant General Counsel – International Financial Crime & Regulatory Expert, Wells Fargo
Maureen Lewis, Managing Director – Litigation, Investigations & Enforcement, Barclayss

Who Should Attend?

This workshop is designed for those responsible for managing culture, conduct, and regulatory risk across AFB member banks. It will be particularly valuable for:

Senior Managers
MLROs
Heads of Compliance, Risk and Legal
Culture and Conduct Leads

Priya Giuliani

Priya Giuliani is a Partner in HKA’s Investigations & Compliance practice with nearly 30 years of experience working with international banks, regulators, and law enforcement on financial crime risk management, governance, conduct and culture. She has extensive Skilled Person experience under the FCA’s s166 framework and deep insight into how cultural misalignment, weak escalation pathways and hierarchical norms can create compliance blind spots, the core themes explored in this workshop.

Priya is a recognised thought leader on organisational culture, behavioural science and the link between human behaviour and regulatory outcomes. She recently authored Culture Isn’t a Patch, It’s the Platform, which highlights culture as the “invisible operating system” of organisations, and she regularly speaks at industry conferences on how behavioural science can transform compliance and strengthen cultural integrity.

About the ACi 2026 Banking Forum

The ACi 2026 Banking Forum is a premier, full‑day gathering of investigation professionals, legal experts and senior leaders from across the financial services sector.

Hosted by Barclays at Canary Wharf, the forum brings together practitioners from some of the world’s leading financial institutions to examine the most pressing challenges facing banking investigations today.

This year’s agenda focuses on the issues that matter most to the profession, including:

Designing investigation frameworks that can scale
Integrating AI tools without undermining human judgement
Managing legal privilege and sensitive matters
Navigating high‑profile cases in the public eye
Maintaining investigation standards amid global enforcement change

With speakers from institutions including Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, Citi, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and leading KCs, the forum offers a rare opportunity to benchmark practice and engage in frank, peer‑to‑peer discussion.

Register

View the full agenda, speaker line‑up and register to attend the ACi 2026 Banking Forum.

HKA and Middle East Consultant presents: Claims Arising Out of Conflict

Conflict can derail critical infrastructure projects in an instant.

This timely webinar explores how geopolitical instability and war give rise to delay and disruption claims, examining causation and practical strategies in volatile environments.

Our panel

Haroon Niazi (Moderator)
Partner, Claims, Construction and Expert Services Lead

Dr. Franco Mastrandrea
Partner

Derek Nelson
Partner

Click here to visit our YouTube channel

Linear Scheduling Methodology (LSM) for Delay Analysis

HKA’s Michael Halliday (chair) and Dimitris Tousiakis (presenter) were delighted to be guest speakers on the recent AACE Region 9 Europe & Africa webinar ‘Linear scheduling methodology for delay analysis’.

If you’re working on linear or repetitive projects and want to simplify forensic delay analysis for dispute resolution, this webinar is worth viewing.

During the webinar, Dimitris Tousiakis reviews two fundamental scheduling methods, the Critical Path Method (CPM) and the Linear Scheduling Methodology (LSM), and whilst CPM is more widely used for construction programmes, the LSM is demonstrated as a more informative approach.

Click here to visit our YouTube channel

CRUX Webinar: Claims and dispute causation on engineering and construction projects: ‘Forewarned is Forearmed’– Anticipating challenges to be at our best

In today’s volatile environment, all those involved in infrastructure and capital projects need to keep a wary eye out for tomorrow’s threats. Effective risk management must also be informed by yesterday’s lessons too. Especially when objective evidence of recurrent lapses in project planning and execution, and their impact, is laid bare.

Like major infrastructure and capital projects themselves, the web of causes entangling budget and schedule overruns is complex. Our Sixth Annual CRUX Insight Report sheds further light on that complexity.

The heart of CRUX is our analysis of the underlying causes of claims and disputes. We have distilled the findings of HKA consultants’ investigations on major projects worldwide. This dataset now covers 1,801 projects in 106 countries with a cumulative capital expenditure (CAPEX) value of $2.247 trillion.

On 28 November, 2023, an experienced industry panel reviewed the findings of our Sixth CRUX Insight Report on the challenges facing the construction and infrastructure sectors, and raised the question, how can we change behaviours and better equip ourselves by using what we have learned, rather than repeating the same mistakes?

The panel was moderated by Michael Mcilwrath, Founder & CEO, MDisputes; Chair, ICC Governing Body for Dispute Resolution Services, Michelle Metz, Partner, HKA, Dafydd Wynn Owen, Partner, HKA, John Nitties, Commercial, Planning & Project Controls Specialist, and Caroline Pope, Partner, Addleshaw Goddard

Breaking the mould in the Middle East – how women can succeed in the construction industry

Links to the webinar recordings:

Webinar #1: Attracting and retaining female talent in the construction industry

Webinar #2: Breaking the mould – how women can succeed in the construction industry

Attitudes towards women in the workplace are changing in the Gulf states – and the unlikely combination of technology and empathy can accelerate this transformation, according to pioneering female figures in construction.

How women can succeed in the industry was the theme of a webinar on 22 June 2023 jointly hosted by global risk mitigation consultancy HKA and Reed Smith, the international law firm.

Acknowledging the positive changes in the region over recent years, HKA Partner and webinar moderator Clare Lavin explored the enabling factors and remaining barriers with three women who have broken the mould while forging careers in the sector.

Digital’s empowerment

Jessika Nicolas – Regional Manager for Environment & Sustainability at KEO, and a specialist in Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) – made the case that technological change was shifting women in back-office roles to the forefront of construction projects.

Digital technologies are empowering change for the growing number of women with STEM-based expertise. “The tools have pushed gender out of the equation,” she said, evidencing that intellectual power now outweighs physical strength.

Atheel MallAllah, Senior Electrical Engineering Manager with Crown House Technologies, agreed, citing the female leadership of digital engineering within parent company Laing O’Rourke.

Jessika also affirmed the importance of emotional intelligence. Having attained management positions, women were able use empathy and kindness to strengthen team performance. These ‘female traits’ – previously perceived as weaknesses – helped to “build a team, open communication, trust and respect,” she noted.

When “everyone has space to speak”, she added, team leaders could bring out the best from different minorities and personalities, leading to better work and alternative strategies that differentiate companies in a highly competitive market.

Amanda Clack, HKA Partner, Regional CEO, EMEA and a former winner of an accolade for kindness in leadership from Women for the Future, said: “Kindness costs absolutely nothing. It’s a key skill for any leader, male or female.” As projects are all about people, kindness is also fundamental to creating a good project culture.

Change is coming

Turning to barriers for women in construction, actual and perceived, the panel acknowledged the ongoing challenges but were united in optimism about the future.

Atheel MallAllah faced enormous difficulties in several posts in Gulf countries following her arrival from Iraq in 2006. Having changed jobs amid recession, hard-earned recognition came when, after a year supervising labour on site for an Abu Dhabi MEP company, her male boss admitted his mindset regarding women in the workplace had changed. Joining Laing O’Rourke was a more significant turning point. Over the last 14 years, she has advanced within the group to leadership roles on iconic projects.

This experience confirmed Laing O’Rourke’s commitment to gender equality, and its gender diversity action plan target of parity across its international workforce by 2033. However, anecdotal evidence from new female recruits in the Middle East suggested this was still far from the norm. For example, a new construction manager had never before seen so many women in a construction firm in the region, while a health and safety specialist had sent her CV to more than 30 companies, only receiving a single invitation to interview, from Laing O’Rourke.

Modest measures

The panel offered some recommendations for increasing female recruitment and retention, and advice for women striving to succeed in the construction industry:

Companies need a clear code of conduct on gender equality, but managers must also ensure its implementation at every level of the organisation.

On sites, women should be offered special support if necessary – including a male ‘buddy’ – especially before cultural change takes root within the labour force.

Flexible working should be the industry-wide norm alongside adequate maternity leave and pay entitlement.

More women leaders and role models – and an industry spotlight on them and progressive employers – will help accelerate wider progress towards gender equality.

Aspiring women must challenge themselves and each other to ‘be the change’ by coming up with the solutions to system blocks, while also ‘being themselves’ and remaining authentic.

Female professionals in construction share the duty to inspire and encourage other women and the next generation.

Elaborating on this final message, Amanda Clack stressed that it was a privilege to be working in the built environment, improving the world for society. Her ask was that everyone working in the built environment should share their passion for their work with the next generation to help encourage top talent into the sector.

“We need storytelling for the next generation. Go out and talk to someone under 18 about why you love your job.” She added: “Climb the ladder but take others with you,” noting that the industry needed more women like her fellow panellists.

Aptly, the next webinar in the series (see below) will focus on the importance of mentoring for the advancement of women in construction.

* September 2023 – Webinar #3: Pay it forward – why mentoring and male allyship matter for women in the construction industry.

Commenting on the series, Michelle Nelson, Partner at Reed Smith, emphasised that it was crucial to inspire others through experience and enthusiasm – and demonstrating what success looks like helps others achieve it.

Alison Eslick, Senior Associate at Reed Smith, who will moderate Webinar #3, said: “In our first two webinars, we heard from women at the top of the industry on attracting and retaining female talent. In our final webinar, our panel will share their experiences, both as mentees and mentors, and consider how the industry can better embrace mentoring for the benefit of female talent”.

LIDW23 – Getting hotter: ESG, climate change and changes in energy markets giving GCs and CFOs plenty of heat

On 17 May 2023, in association with London International Disputes Week, we were delighted to host an ESG-focussed panel discussion as part of the LIDW theme, “Adapting to a Changing World”.

Speakers from HKA, Norton Rose Fulbright, 39 Essex Chambers, 4 New Square Chambers and Green Invesment Group discussed:

Environmental claims now not just nuisance actions, can be hundreds of millions at least, with increasing efforts to hit the parent
Climate Change has been talked of generally but not getting sharper in terms of specific valuation impacts
Accelerated decommissioning, renewables not working to plan and regulatory changes mean market change

The panel was moderated by Colin Johnson, Partner, HKA and was made up of Alex Lee, Principal, Environmental and Climate Change Lead, HKA, Holly Stebbing, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright, Amy Armitage, Counsel, Norton Rose Fulbright, Catherine Dobson, Barrister, 39 Essex Chambers, George Spalton KC, Barrister, 4 New Square Chambers and Adrian Barnes, Head of Green Analytics, Green Investment Group.

Click here to visit our YouTube and previous panel discussions

LIDW23 – Planes, rockets and satellites – where things go wrong and what can be done about it.

On 18 May, at Quadrant Chambers in association with London International Disputes Week, HKA joined an aviation and space panel discussion where our speakers looked at where things go wrong and what can be done about it.

The panel discussed the increase in commercial space activity over the past years and how this has given rise to new legal challenges.

There was focus on “The impact of Safety Leadership on what goes wrong”, “How the organisation can drive what goes wrong” and “The accident equation, the variability of human error – designs that fail safe.”. They also covered what issues they have encountered in damages assessment involving planes, rockets and satellites; and how the industry presents a set of unique challenges, and how the existing damages framework can be adapted and used for damages in such cases.

The panel was moderated by Matthew Reeve, KC, Quadrant Chambers, and consisted of Anthony Charlton, Partner, Olesya Prantyuk, Director, Lloyd Watson, Technical Director and Rachel O’Grady, Partner, Mayer Brown.

Below are the timestamps in which the experts began speaking on various topics:

An introduction to the satellite and rocket legal scenario – Rachel O’Grady: 4:07

Commercial strength of the market – Olesya Prantyuk: 7:18

An introduction to the satellite and rocket legal scenario [continued] – Rachel O’Grady: 9:45

Problems and benefits of the legal framework in the context of damages – Olesya Prantyuk: 21:39

Introduction to experience in conventional and ‘old-fashioned’ aviation and space – Anthony Charlton: 30:30

Thoughts on operational safety management in aviation and space – Lloyd Watson: 36:45

What other industries have learned from aviation in terms of management and the treatment of incidences and commodities. The lessons learned to be rolled out to other industries – Lloyd Watson: 41:35

When controlled flight into terrain was recognised as a human factor problem – Lloyd Watson: 43:57

Further experience regarding experience disputes in the airline industry – Anthony Charlton: 47:33

Questions: 51:52

The Structural Expert Deconstructed

On 27 April 2023, members of our Forensic Technical Services’ structures team presented the technical and practical aspects of their involvement in construction disputes. We highlighted four key phases of the structural engineering expert’s role and hope to foster a lively discussion of how and why structural engineering advice and evidence can be used in a dispute context.

Analyse: the role of the structural engineer
Communicate: turning complex ideas into clear, concise reporting
Articulate: the challenges of joint meetings and cross-examination for an engineer
Collaborate: a speaker from HKA’s delay team discusses the value of technical input

The panel was moderated by Helen Collie, Partner, and included Panos Rousakis, Senior Engineer, Jon Bird, Technical Director, Philip Ebbatson, Technical Director, Konstantinos Lytos, Director, and Sarah Keyte, Associate Technical Director and Digital Lead (BIM).

Below are the timestamps in which our experts began speaking:

Panos Rousakis on “The Role of the structural engineer”: 4:06

Jon Bird on “Turning complex ideas into clear, concise reporting”: 14:31

Philip Ebbatson on “The challenges of joint meetings and cross examination”: 27:54

Sarah Keyte and Konstantinos Lytos on “The value of technical input in delay disputes”: 41:26

Questions from audience: 54:20

Critical Path for ‘Dummies’

On 25 April 2023, we held the second of the series of HKA ‘Breakfast Bite’ events in London, where the speakers explored various types of programmes and their significance in project planning and execution. They delved into the critical path – a fundamental aspect of any programme, and explain why identifying it is important. In addition, they discussed how delay events can impact the critical path and its relation to EOT (Extension of Time). The speakers showcased examples to demonstrate how the critical path can switch from one activity to another and explore programme deficiencies and their impact on the critical path.

The introduction was made by Russell Bates, Principal with Haris Katostaras, Director, presenting on the analysis perspective of critical path, and our guest speaker David Sawtell, Barrister, 39 Essex Chambers, provided the view from a legal perspective.

Below are the timestamps in which our experts began speaking:

Russell Bates – Introduction: 0:00

Haris Katostaras – Critical Path – Analysis Perspective: 3:06

David Sawtell – The view from the legal team: 36:52

Questions: 57:28

Avoiding engineering pitfalls in Oil & Gas projects

Introduction

HKA and ICAK hosted a seminar on avoiding engineering pitfalls in oil & gas projects – engineering experts’ opinions on the most common disputes that arise and how to avoid them.

Our engineering experts will share from their rich oil & gas project experience and answer frequently asked questions on what a contractor should anticipate and prepare for in setting their construction project up for success.

This seminar is part of a series on avoiding engineering pitfalls in construction projects.

Speakers

Benjamin Highfield
Partner and Head of Asia, HKA
E: benjaminhighfield@hka.com

Benjamin Highfield is a Chartered Civil Engineer and a claims and disputes specialist at HKA. He has more than 15 years’ major project experience in the construction industry, spanning buildings, transportation infrastructure, oil and gas, power and water markets. Additionally, he regularly advises clients on commercial and contractual matters, as well as claims management and dispute resolution.

Benjamin has led teams on multiple oil and gas, water and power projects and has negotiated high value settlements with major governmental organisations. With his extensive experience of many of the major standard forms of contract, he has been employed by government bodies and large private companies to advise on a range of broad and diverse matters.

Benjamin is an experienced delay and quantum analyst and has prepared multiple claims for extension of time, disruption, prolongation and acceleration. He has drafted detailed contractual arguments for disputed variations, termination, suspension and arbitration amongst others. He is a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

An Ho Koh
Partner and Head of Operations Korea, HKA
E: anhokoh@hka.com

An Ho Koh is a Partner at HKA, based in Seoul, Korea. An Ho has over 25 years of experience in contract management, cost analysis, project scheduling and progress management, preparation of claims, arbitration and litigation.

He has held various construction and contract management positions with contractors in Korea, Pakistan, Philippines and the UAE, where he has been resident for the past ten years. An Ho is a specialist in preparing contractual claims seeking entitlement for both time and cost. An Ho has developed his skills and is well versed in progress management, estimation and proposal preparation, construction management, contract management and claim management.

His experience portfolio includes mega scale express highways, buildings, oil and gas, power plants, wastewater treatment plants, desalination plants, submersible drilling rigs and offshore platforms.

Kevin Slater
Technical Director, HKA

Kevin is a chartered engineer and chartered marine engineer with over 38 years’ combined experience in the offshore upstream Oil & Gas industry, including power generation, mining and construction. He has more than 25 years’ experience specialising in integrated subsea systems and subsea control systems for clients in the UK and around the world. Kevin also has many years’ hands-on experience as a Technical Assurance and Lead Controls Systems Engineer for a number of major oil companies and contractors across the UK and Europe. He has developed an excellent technical ability gained from a diversity of projects from various industries. Kevin uses proven and robust commercial acumen to manage, drive and deliver value on major and complex projects.

Should you have any questions on the seminar topic or registration, please contact CrystalLim@hka.com.