Our People

Simon is a founding partner at Veritum having helped established the business in May 2017. From 2015 to 2017 he provided consultancy services to several banks around interactions with investors and analysts. He retired from his role as a Managing Director at Barclays in October 2014 after a 25 year sell side career. In that capacity he was head of the equity research team covering the European Banks sector. Prior to Barclays he was at Citigroup where he fulfilled a similar role for 12 years. At Citigroup and at Barclays his team was ranked Top 3 in the Institutional Investor and Extel surveys for a decade and a half, and he was individually ranked the number one bank analyst across Europe in his final three years prior to retirement.

Simon is a Senior Fellow at Cass Business School and was a founder member of the Financial Stability Board Task Force examining bank financial reporting. He sits on several banking think tanks and is a former member of the World Economic Forum group. Simon is a regular contributor of opinion pieces in the FT and in other publications.

Prior to Citigroup Simon worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Merrill Lynch and M&G. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant at PWC and holds a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

Cristina helped launch Veritum in May 2017 as a founding partner. Prior to that Cristina enjoyed more than 16 years as a sell-side equity analyst developing broad geographic expertise in banks across Emerging Europe, Latam and developed EU markets. Cristina was a Managing Director at Barclays and Head of CEEMEA and LatAm Financials from 2011 to 2016, having helped set up Barclays’ equity research effort in CEEMEA. At the point of her departure from Barclays, she was Head of CEEMEA Research.

Prior to that she spent eight years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where she was Co-Head of CEEMEA financials research. Over this period her team was consistently ranked in the Top 3 according to Institutional Investor and Extel surveys and individually Cristina was regularly ranked No.1 CEEMEA financials analyst.

Cristina has regularly presented to banks’ managements, organisations such as the IMF, EBRD, European Commission and engaged at senior level with Central banks.

She has an MSc in Political Economy of Transition from the London School of Economics, an MA in International Relations from the Central European University (Hungary) and a BSc in Finance & Banking from ISE (Romania).

Daniel Garrod became a partner at Veritum in June 2018. Prior to that he enjoyed a successful 18-year career as a sell side analyst at Barclays, Citigroup and Commerzbank initially covering European Banks and then Diversified Financial companies. Prior to that he qualified as a chartered accountant in Deloitte’s Financial Services Practice.

Daniel and his Specialty Finance team were consistently ranked top 3 in investor surveys whilst at Barclays and in his final full year at Barclays he was rated number 1 individual Diversified Financials analyst. Daniel has extensive experience in primary work having been involved in 11 IPOs whilst at Citigroup and Barclays. Barclays won 7 Corporate Broking mandates within Daniel’s coverage universe during his time there.

Daniel was a founder of the “U.K. Savings Conference” which has become the sector’s most influential rallying point for research and analytical thinking. Daniel has regularly presented to Supervisory Boards within the Diversified Financials sector, offering critiques of organic and inorganic strategy over the past decade.

Daniel holds an MA in Economics from St Johns College Cambridge.

Andy joined Veritum in October 2024 bringing over 30 years of capital markets experience with a focus on global equities, investor engagement, ESG and Private Equity.

Andy founded the Investor Forum in 2014 and was its Executive Director until August 2024.  Between 2014 and 2018 Andy was also an operating partner at Corsair capital. Prior to that he was one of Europe’s leading institutional investors, specialising in the European banking sector as a partner at Capital Group from 2001 to 2014 and before that at M&G between 1994 and 2001.

During his time as an institutional investor, Andy was consistently ranked among the leading buy side financials investors, being recognised as the ‘most influential European Buy side individual’ by Finance Directors in independent surveys.

Andy is well respected in boardrooms, by investment institutions, by regulators and in the Government sector. He has extensive experience of engagement with Boards and senior executives, and has recently worked with the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce to develop and launch the Investor & Issuer Forum.

Andy is a Visiting Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics.

Prior to his investment career, Andy qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a BA in Economics & Accounting from the University of Liverpool.

Mark was a founding partner of Veritum. He has over 30 years experience in financial services. At the point of his departure from Barclays PLC, he was Deputy Group Finance Director, in which role he ran the global finance function, responsible for all financial management, budgeting, reporting, divisional finance management, policy and internal and external financial reporting.

During 14 years at Barclays, Mark’s roles included: Group Financial Controller during the transition to International Accounting Standards; Head of Investor Relations during the credit crunch; and CFO of the Corporate and Investment Bank. Whilst Head of IR, Mark’s team received multiple awards including twice winning Grand Prix for Best Overall Investor Relations and Best Investor Relations for Banks.

Prior to joining Barclays PLC, Mark was a partner at Deloitte and formerly Andersen. Over a 13-year career with Deloitte and Andersen, including 2 years in Tokyo, Mark was responsible for consulting and audit services in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, in the US and Asia.

Mark is a Non-Executive Director of Petershill Partners plc; chair of Absa Securities UK Limited; a governor of Sevenoaks School; a chartered accountant; and a graduate of Oxford University.

Blair began working with Veritum in 2024 after a 23 year career as a sell side insurance analyst. Blair’s success as an analyst has been recognised through numerous industry awards culminating in his inclusion in the Institutional Investor ‘Hall of Fame’; an elite club of only 33 individuals across Europe awarded over the last 30 years.

Blair has gained a reputation for honesty, hard work and straight talking. He has a proven and recognised ability to process highly complex inputs and deliver easy to understand outputs; both written and verbal. Blair has spent the last two decades providing advice and discussing strategy and solutions with executives and investment professionals.

Having qualified as an Actuary, Blair left the insurance industry to work for Deutsche bank as an equity research analyst in 2000; and quickly moved on to Merrill Lynch (Bank of America) in 2002. He was promoted to Managing Director in 2008 and was appointed head of European Insurance equity research shortly afterwards. Blair has covered insurance stocks in both the UK and continental Europe and has travelled extensively to engage with insurance companies, regulators and investors in Europe, US and Asia.

Blair retired from Bank of America in 2023 to focus on advisory work and other interests.

Marc joined Veritum as an external consultant in June 2019. Prior to that he spent 25 years as a financial analyst and portfolio manager. Most recently he was portfolio manager of the Lansdowne Global Financials Fund, having been part of the team there since 2006. The fund invested long and short in global financial stocks. From inception through to end 2015 it returned 193% and at peak managed US$4bn in assets. In 2010 the fund won the Eurohedge long-term performance award.

Prior to joining Lansdowne, Marc was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse in London, where he ran the European banks research effort. His specific area of coverage on the sell-side was German, Swiss, and French banks.

Marc began his career in 1994 at Barclays de Zoete Wedd and then at Schroder Securities. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics from St. Catherine’s College, Oxford. He also holds an MSc, with distinction, in Leadership and Strategy from London Business School.

As well as providing independent consulting services, he is currently active as an angel investor in the fintech space.