PwC hires former UK regulator to join blockchain consulting team

PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the Big Four accounting firms, has put a lot of thought into blockchain recently. First, it reached a strategic partnership with Blockstream, and then established a blockchain consulting team.

A former regulator at one of the UK’s main financial regulators has been hired by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to join its newly formed blockchain advisory team.

Patrick Spens, who previously served as head of market monitoring at the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will assist the firm in exploring the application of blockchain in financial services and its impact on various industries, governments and society, according to PwC.

Prior to his appointment at the Financial Conduct Authority, Spens founded his own hedge fund and served as head of equity and alternative execution trading at Citigroup's EMEA division. According to the Financial Times, Spens's choice to leave the Financial Conduct Authority comes at a time when the agency is undergoing a broad reshuffle.

Michael Rendell, transformation and innovation leader at PwC, said in a statement:

“We anticipate there will be increasing demand from our client base for potential blockchain applications and Patrick is one of the UK’s leading blockchain experts.”

Back in January, PwC announced the establishment of an office in Belfast, Northern Ireland, focused on the FinTech sector.

The company also said it expects the blockchain advisory team to grow to 40 members in 2016.

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/pwc-taps-uk-finance-watchdog-blockchain-consultancy/
By Stan Higgins
Compilation: Overnight porridge
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/pwc-blockchain)