R3 Member Spotlight: Antoniya Mercer

14 October 2024

Antoniya Mercer is a solicitor and technical specialist in the Resolution and Insolvency department at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), based in its Leeds office. She practiced as an insolvency and restructuring solicitor in private practice in the North West for 14 years before joining the FCA in December 2023 where she works alongside firm supervisors to deliver effective strategies for the resolution for failing and failed firms.

Antoniya is also speaking at the upcoming free-to-member webinar on the insolvency regime for payment and e-money services firms this November. Book here.

 What made you decide to pursue a career in turnaround, restructuring and insolvency?

I was very lucky to train to be a solicitor at a regional full service commercial law firm in a supportive environment with access to seriously experienced and knowledgeable lawyers and partners.  My favourite seat was Construction and I was really keen to qualify into it.  Unlucky for me, I did that seat in 2008 when Construction work was in rapid decline. Lucky for me, there was a seat in Insolvency with the prospect of a position post-qualification. So, I am not an exception to the rule that Insolvency found me, but I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a talented and hard-working pool of professionals.   

How has the profession changed since you’ve joined it?

My LinkedIn feed has started showing retirement posts and when I catch up with people in my network I feel compelled to talk about teenagers and GCSEs so I’ve definitely been in the profession long enough to notice change!

On a more positive note, it is good to see greater diversity amongst our peers; people that bring a different point of view. A few of the high-profile cases on which I have worked recently are led by female insolvency practitioners, and female insolvency lawyers at partner level are far from the exception anymore.  However, I really hope that we continue to see an increase in numbers of female IPs and partners in law firms, and also that we won’t stop at gender, and continue to drive improvements from a DEI perspective more broadly.

How has your experience as a solicitor in a smaller practice, including your involvement in the R3 Smaller Practices Group committee, helped you at the FCA?

We come across insolvency practitioners and lawyers from all manner of firms in our day-to-day work. The vast majority understand our FCA objectives and role (including the statutory requirements) in their work in relation to regulated firms. Practitioners from smaller firms tend to have limited experience with firms whose business models expose consumers and the financial markets to higher levels of risk of harm in failure, where the FCA is an important and active stakeholder given our statutory function.

I would like to think that my background helps me relate to practitioners from smaller practices.  I see the need to discuss with them openly our role, the expected level of engagement with us and the challenges they may encounter in formulating and communicating the strategy for the regulated firm they are working with.  I always feel really proud when we are working with practitioners from smaller practices who can articulate to us how their plans fit in with our objectives, prepare well for their appointment, don’t overpromise but ensure they deliver as they set out they will do, and I can see them building rapport and trust with my colleagues.

What are the key differences working in private practice and the public sector?

The timesheets are much easier!

Joking aside, I never felt particularly happy with my life revolving around billing targets that only went back to zero at the beginning of the next financial year.  Now I have a sense of purpose that makes an early start or a late finish truly worth it. A lot of thinking and science goes into making our objectives deliverable and measurable but even more importantly, we live them and they are at the heart of everything we do in our day-to-day work.

Since becoming an R3 member in 2010, which aspects of membership have you found most beneficial?

In the very early days R3’s courses and conferences were my main source of learning on all things insolvency and restructuring because in all my studies to become a lawyer I vaguely remember a few lectures on Insolvency in my Masters and a module on the Legal Practice Course but that’s about it.    

Access to events organised by R3 also gave me the opportunity to spend time listening to practitioners’ war stories.  I am still fascinated by these stories of the olden days because the world of insolvency seems to have changed so much since then but also because there are a lot of lessons to be learned from those prior experiences. 

In my role at the FCA, the opportunities which R3 provides to connect with practitioners, to speak about our work and priorities and to gain insights into the insolvency and restructuring market more broadly are invaluable.  

What is the most rewarding aspect of your current role?

Every day I see how our efforts and decisions affect the lives of millions and not just on casework but also in our policy work.  Sometimes the balancing act is really difficult because of the complexity of the issues and the impact of our decisions on consumers and markets.  Other times we sigh in relief when plans that looked touch and go come through. I also really enjoy it when practitioners engage with us and offer their lived experiences and knowledge on technical or policy points.   

Can you tell R3 members more about the make-up of the insolvency team at the FCA?

The objective of the Resolution & Insolvency department is to minimise the harms caused by failing and failed firms.  We provide specialist insolvency and resolution support to our frontline supervision teams. We work with other teams in the FCA on agreeing and implementing resolution strategies for failing and failed solo and dual-regulated firms (where we also work with our counterparts at the Bank of England Resolution Directorate and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA)).

There are 27 of us in the Resolution and Insolvency Department. We have 3 case working teams and a data, analytics and operations team.  On the most complex cases which pose the highest risk of harms in failure, practitioners can expect to see a core team of 3-4 of us.  I should mention that the majority of requests for out-of-court appointment of administrators are dealt with by our supervision colleagues and not by our team.

What do you consider as the biggest challenge for the insolvency and recovery profession in the future?

If I can sum it up in one word, it would be communication. Having taken a step outside of the small restructuring and insolvency universe, I can see that there is quite some distance to go in relating to stakeholders external to that universe, even when they clearly see the value of the work that insolvency and restructuring professionals do. Simple, open and transparent communication goes a long way in building trust and credibility.  It also raises standards and shines a light on outdated practices. 

If I were to dream big, the top of my wish list would be administrators’ proposals on a page, progress reports on a page, distribution plans on a page...