Job Advert
Join one of the UK's leading financial services regulatory consultancies
At Thistle Initiatives, we help financial services firms navigate an ever-changing regulatory landscape with confidence.
Our clients range from ambitious fintech start-ups through to established financial institutions, and we support them across Payments, Financial Crime, Investments, Credit, Mortgages, Insurance and Change & Transformation.
We're looking for an experienced Payments & Digital Assets Regulatory Senior Consultant to join our growing team. This is an exciting opportunity to work with a diverse portfolio of clients, helping them solve complex regulatory challenges whilst building your own expertise in one of the fastest-moving sectors within financial services.
If you enjoy translating regulation into practical, commercial advice and want to work alongside a collaborative team of industry specialists, we'd love to hear from you.
The Role
We are looking for a Payments and Digital Assets Regulatory Senior Consultant to support a growing portfolio of client engagements.
The role will suit someone with practical experience in payments, e-money, open banking, fintech or digital assets regulation who can translate regulatory requirements into clear, commercially focused advice. You will work directly with clients on authorisations, compliance reviews, regulatory change, gap assessments and the design of governance, risk and compliance frameworks.
What you'll be doing
You'll help clients understand and meet UK and, where relevant, EU regulatory expectations across payment services, e-money, open banking and digital assets. This includes supporting FCA applications, reviewing business models, drafting regulatory documentation, assessing control frameworks and helping firms become ready, willing and organised for authorisation or ongoing supervision.
Your responsibilities will include:
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Preparing and supporting FCA authorisation applications, variations of permission, regulatory business plans and application packs for payment institutions, e-money institutions and open banking firms.
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Reviewing business models, policies, procedures, governance arrangements, risk frameworks and controls against applicable regulatory requirements.
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Producing clear client deliverables, including gap assessments, compliance reviews, audit reports, regulatory advice, meeting materials and action plans.
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Advising clients on payments, e-money, open banking, safeguarding, financial crime, operational resilience, Consumer Duty, governance and regulatory change.
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Supporting digital asset and cryptoasset clients with regulatory perimeter analysis, financial crime requirements, governance and readiness for evolving UK and EU regimes.
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Managing defined workstreams, tracking actions, engaging with client stakeholders and contributing to timely, high-quality project delivery.
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Contributing to horizon scanning, thought leadership, internal knowledge sharing and business development activity for the Payments and Digital Assets team.
About You
You'll bring practical experience in payments, e-money, fintech, open banking, digital assets or financial services regulatory compliance, ideally gained in consultancy, industry, legal, advisory or regulator-facing roles.
You'll also have experience in many of the following:
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Good working knowledge of the Payment Services Regulations 2017, Electronic Money Regulations 2011, the FCA Approach Document and relevant FCA Handbook requirements.
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Experience supporting, preparing or reviewing payment services, e-money, AISP, PISP, RAISP, API or EMI applications.
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Understanding of FCA expectations for governance, risk management, Consumer Duty, operational resilience, safeguarding and operational readiness.
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Knowledge of financial crime controls, AML, sanctions, transaction monitoring, fraud, customer due diligence and business-wide risk assessments.
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Awareness of digital assets, cryptoasset registration, tokenisation, stablecoins and the developing UK and EU regulatory landscape.
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The ability to interpret regulation, identify practical gaps and explain requirements clearly to clients and colleagues.
What will help you succeed
We're looking for someone who is:
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Performance driven.
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A strong written communicator who produces concise, client-ready outputs.
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Analytical, detail focused and able to apply regulation to real business models.
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Confident working directly with clients and explaining technical concepts in plain English.
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Organised, delivery focused and comfortable managing competing priorities.
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Commercially aware, collaborative and proactive, with a commitment to quality and continuous learning.
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Confident using Microsoft 365, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint and Copilot. Experience with Google Drive, Slack and other collaboration platforms would be beneficial.
Why join Thistle?
This is an opportunity to build your career in a highly respected, award-winning consultancy that's experiencing continued growth.
In return, we offer:
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A competitive salary and benefits package.
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25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays.
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Company pension.
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Hybrid working with a City of London base.
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A supportive, collaborative team culture with regular social events.
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The opportunity to work on some of the most exciting and fast-moving regulatory topics across payments, fintech, open banking and digital assets.
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Ongoing opportunities to develop your expertise while working with an impressive and varied client portfolio.
Ready for your next challenge?
If you want to build your regulatory consulting career in a fast-moving market and work with clients shaping the future of payments and digital assets, we'd love to hear from you.
Apply today and become part of a team that helps shape the future of financial services regulation.
