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Gareth Vowles

Partner

Gareth is a Financial Services Disputes & Investigations Partner. 

He is the person you call if you think there may be a systemic problem in your business, or if you are facing challenges from customers, regulators or claims management companies.

Gareth has over 15 years’ experience in helping financial services firms with a wide range of contentious issues.

His practice includes investigations, remediation, complaint handling and litigation, relating to a variety of conduct risk issues, including mis-selling, systemic failures, fraud, and discrimination in financial services. He has particular experience in mortgages, consumer credit, retail banking and investments. His clients include banks, building societies, specialist lenders, consumer credit firms, intermediaries and public bodies.

Gareth’s approach is:

  • Holistic — he is a litigator and regulatory lawyer and consequently is equally at home when managing group action litigation, or delivering regulatory projects and investigations.
  • Analytical — he loves data and spreadsheets, and believes that the solution to most problems is to be found in a rigorous analysis of the detail.
  • Objective — he believes that his role is to provide a dispassionate view, so that you can resolve problems rationally, with the emotion removed, and he understands, can explain and anticipate the views of judges, ombudsmen, regulators, customers and business stakeholders.
  • Strategic — he appreciates the bigger picture for his clients.
  • Dogged — he loves a challenge (whether in terms of scale or complexity), demands high standards of his colleagues, and will not give up until his client’s needs are met.

Gareth’s experience includes:

  • designing and delivering a bespoke complaint handling process for a consumer credit lender
  • conducting a past business review into mortgage mis-selling for a retail bank
  • advising a mortgage lender on challenges to the fairness of its terms and conditions
  • managing group action litigation and volume claims management activity for consumer and retail finance firms
  • advising an industry association on its response to an FCA consultation
  • assisting an international bank in a multijurisdictional enforcement investigation
  • advising an insurance firm on the recovery of commissions arising from fraudulent broker activity
  • advising a mortgage servicing firm on the remediation of systemic breaches of regulations
  • Regularly presents at industry forums and publishes on a range of topics, including mis-selling, discrimination in financial services, and regulatory developments in retail financial services
  • Recognized in The Legal 500 as a "Next Generation Partner" for dispute resolution
  • Solicitor, 2005
  • Barrister (Non-Practicing), 2002
  • Bar Vocation Course (Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Education), Inns of Court School of Law, City University, 2001-2002
  • LLB in Law & Politics, Cardiff University, 1998-2001
Gareth Vowles

Partner

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