FTI Consulting announced continued investment in its Financial Services practice within the Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment with the appointment of Sepideh Rowland as a Senior Managing Director and Gabriel Hidalgo as a Managing Director.

Ms. Rowland, who is based in Washington, D.C., brings more than 25 years of legal and compliance experience in developing and administering financial crime compliance programs while routinely interacting with federal and state regulatory authorities. In her role at FTI Consulting, she will focus on continuing to build the financial crimes compliance advisory practice by enhancing the firm’s ability to meet client needs while fulfilling regulatory expectations.

Previously, Ms. Rowland worked at K2 Integrity, where she developed and led the Managed Services practice. Prior to this, she led compliance or Bank Secrecy Act/anti-money laundering (“BSA/AML”) and sanctions functions at several respected financial institutions, community banks and money services businesses. Ms. Rowland also played an active role in lobbying and advocating for financial institutions as senior counsel with the American Bankers Association.

Mr. Hidalgo, who is based in New York, is a senior compliance practitioner and advisor with deep regulatory and operational knowledge of banking, virtual assets and fintech. He has more than two decades of legal, BSA/AML and sanctions compliance experience in creating, implementing, remediating and updating compliance programs. In his role at FTI Consulting, he will help financial institution clients create, implement and update their BSA/AML and sanction compliance programs to meet and exceed regulatory requirements while incorporating industry best practices.

Prior to FTI Consulting, Mr. Hidalgo created and led the Virtual Assets and Fintech Compliance practice at K2 Integrity. Previously, he served as Chief Compliance Officer at banks in the Greater New York City area and was the first Global Head of Compliance for itBit (now known as Paxos), a virtual asset exchange. On the regulatory side, Mr. Hidalgo worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he led regulatory compliance and legal issue review.
“The financial services industry is facing an unprecedented change in its compliance and regulatory landscape,” said Stella Mendes, a Senior Managing Director and Leader of the Financial Services practice within the Forensic and Litigation Consulting segment at FTI Consulting. “Sepideh and Gabriel’s industry knowledge and decades of experience will benefit our clients as they respond to regulatory inquiries and develop and strengthen compliance and data-retention programs in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment.”

The additions of Ms. Rowland and Mr. Hidalgo continue the growth of the Financial Services practice in North America following the recent appointments of Denis Reynolds, who joined as a Senior Managing Director in Toronto, and Enrique Ubarri, who joined as a Senior Managing Director in Miami.