Liz Field joined the British Wealth Management Association last year as its CEO. In this interview we range over a broad sweep of topics, from the implementation of the European Union's second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive to the WMA's liaison with the National Crime Agency. The controversial Senior Managers' Regime also receives a mention.

Q: You have a first degree and a Masters in Occupational Psychology (Birkbeck). Has this helped you in your meteoric rise to the top?

A: Yes, the degree really helped with that. You have to think about what makes people tick and what journey they've had today. Psychology is not 'rats and stats' at all; I looked at the social side of things when I studied it. I did my degree at the Open University and it took me six years. I felt I was doing it in far more detail in that time than I would have done as a student at a conventional university. I was doing a job and raising a family at the same time.

Q: You've been a CEO running skills trade associations in the financial services sector – is this the realm of 'training and competence' (T&C) by any chance?

A: It was, towards the end. As T&C started its journey, it was very much about 'what is competence?' It's about skill and behaviour and how to set standards of behaviour. We (at the Financial Skills Partnership) took part in the negotiations with the regulator to evolve 'level 4.' We decided 'let's start with the need for competence first and define it.' This wasn't the first time I came into contact with the WMA (then APCIMS); I came across them before that when I worked for Gerard Stockbrokers ten years ago. I was also at the CISI. I was involved in setting the standards for level 4, but was also on the exam board for the CISI. I wouldn't say I was the spearhead for level 6 also but I tackled it knowing that it would only be a matter of time before the barometer would start to move up from level 4. The investment managers at our WMA member-firms are mainly level 6 now – that's the degree-level qualification. [the Chartered Financial Planner qualification that is part of the National Qualifications Framework at 'level 6' is equivalent to a bachelor’s (first) degree.] I couldn't possibly say how many years it takes to do level 6. They now have a postgraduate degree-level qualification and it's a fellowship at the CISI.

Q: On your ID page on the WMA site it says your email address is heidib@thewma.co.uk. Is there something you'd like to tell us about secret identities and Walter Mitty?

A: Hahaha! That's the email of my secretary.

Q: Do you think we're far away from the moment when firms insist that compliance officers are qualified? And what about the regulators – they haven’t involved themselves in training yet, have they?

A: It's an interesting thought that the firms might insist on it. I don't hear any gossip about that. As for the regulators, I am in touch with the government but I don't think it's the government's call. The firms would be behind it if it were to come in. The regulators won't get involved in training from a compliance officer perspective. I think you'll find that compliance is a career in its own right.

Q: Did you have anything to do with George Osborne's climbdown over the reverse burden of proof?

A: No. It's a good thing he didn't do it – it would have been a shocker.

Q: How Eurosceptic are your members?

A: We haven't asked them, to be honest. We're bound by the (EU) treaty and until that changes it's business as usual. One-third of my resources are taken up by Europe, because that's where the laws come from.

Q: What do you think of senior managers eventually having to pass qualifications?

A: My understanding of the Senior Managers' Regime (SMR) is that you don't have to do any qualifications but you're accountable. The knock-on effect of that is that they'll probably look at what skill each senior manager has. He might have to be sent on a project management course or a course that looks at the skill of leadership. That might happen in future, but I don't think that it will be immediate.

Q: I hear the WMA is working with Donald Toon from the National Crime Agency, the Economic Crime Command and the NCA as a whole against cyber-crime. How's that going? How many emergencies have you had to field since February, when you started doing it?

A: A few things are rumbling on. We've been looking at the guidance we've been offering to firms. We have an alert system that helps wealth managers keep up-to-date with the latest techniques. It has two angles – it helps staff in firms, and it looks at how firms educate their clients. Donald Toon tells us the trends. We've set up a wealth management forum. We educate them about what wealth management entails just as much as vice versa. Criminals are more likely to target wealth management firms for personal details, while they're more likely to target banks for transactions.

Q: Has the Government ever told you why retail investors were excluded from participating in the Royal Mail share sell-off? Did you ask?

A: No, they didn't tell us but we did indeed ask. It's a bit of a bone of contention. Any IPO ought to have potential in the retail space. We liked it on 5th October when they promised retail investors to be involved in the Lloyds sale.

Q: You have 110 full member firms. On your site it says “76 associate member firms provide professional services to our full member firms.” What's going on there?

A: Some of the 76 are lawyers and accountants. There might be the odd IT provider. There are platform security firms such as Euroclear and Platform Securities.

Q: Last week you and Sanlam Private Wealth had a debate around pensions freedoms and their implications for wealth managers at a roundtable. What are your views and what were your conclusions?

A: It's a secret! It's just being written up. I have yet to see it for myself. My head of research will hand it to me.

Q: High-net-worth clients are increasingly demanding more for their money. I'm always hearing this. How and why?

A: I don't hear about them demanding more, but at one firm (name withheld) there has been a survey of UHNW clients' attitudes [to the services of wealth managers]. The early results show that the upper end are saying that it's a bit boring, the middle area are saying "we're happy with what you're doing." The lower end (£13 million+ in investable assets) are saying "we'd like more personal contact, thank you very much." There are no issues about "we want more from you;" they just want "more exciting." I don't know what that means really!

Q: I'm interested in that lower figure, on the lower end of UHNW, saying that they'd like more personal contact. They're going the other way! All these wealth management firms have been trying to get more 'tech-savvy' and contact you on your iPhone all the time and give you whizzy electronic services and it sounds as though, for the bottom end, they're doing too much of it and ought to be going back the other way a bit.

A: We'll have to drill down a lot more and look at the segments. I don't think individuals just want to be online. Just because you're tech-savvy, it doesn't mean that you have all the answers. The Financial Advice Market Review, which the Government began in the summer, is looking at the question of whether 'online' is the answer.

Q: Fiat currencies are going down the tubes. Is the WMA helping its members prepare for 'Moneygeddon', when hyperinflation kicks in?

A: We haven't looked at that!

Q: Is it true that MiFID II will extend the time you have to store telephone calls from 6 months to 5-7 years?

A: Well, we're still waiting for the delegated acts to come out of Europe from the European Securities Markets Authority about that.

Q: What's the membership saying about that? They can't be looking forward.

A: They are not looking forward at all. The membership wants clarity. We're working on that. We're waiting for the delegated acts to come from Europe, with a consultation paper from the Financial Conduct Authority. We've been working with members to provide insight and analysis. That's the bulk of our work. Everything's being put back – the delegated acts were expected a few months ago. The implementation date of MiFID II is still 3rd January 2017 – that hasn't slipped but everything else has. This is bad because even to build the software requires an 18-month window.

Q: What do you blame for this appalling maladministration?

A: A couple of things. Some of the text of MiFID II is [unsuited to the UK because it is] written from a completely different viewpoint. We advise on the text. We asked the EU authorities what the text meant and what the relationships between various parties were, but they didn't have the answers on time. All 28 member-states are also doing that, so there are delays in Europe. The UK is different in another way. The UK and Ireland have a unique intermediated offer. It's mainly a bancassurance model in Western Europe outside Switzerland – I'm not 100% sure what it's like in the east. I'd like to know how other countries' systems work. That goes for them – they ought to know more about how ours works.

Q: Has the WMA been involved with trade associations in other countries that are thinking of taking on the Retail Distribution Review? [Singapore is doing this with FAIR, South Africa is proceeding with glacial slowness and Canada is thinking about it.] Have you had the trade bodies from those jurisdictions ringing you up and asking for advice?

A: No, I didn't know they were doing it! It's interesting that they are.

Q: Have you thought of turning the WMA into an AB [an 'awarding body' such as the Chartered Insurance Institute and the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, overseen by Ofqual which periodically sends in inspection teams to check on quality]?

A: No. There's enough of them already.

Q: Are any WMA organisational changes coming up?

A: No.

Q: Lastly, the WMA represents wealth management firms from not only the UK but the Crown Dependencies and the Republic of Ireland. What exclusive concerns of those offshore centres is the WMA championing these days? What are their worries that the WMA is trying to resolve?

A: This has been a byway in the past, a neglected area. Up until now, the WMA hasn't spoken to the Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man regulators all that much. Our strategy now is that we are engaging with the regulators. 'Gold plating' of regulations by the various regulators is an issue. We already do regional roadshows there.