Rob Hailey serves as Managing Director, Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Government Affairs at MFA.
Based in the UK, Rob leads MFA’s London office and oversees the work of colleagues in Brussels, representing MFA’s global presence. Working in conjunction with US-based colleagues, he engages with policymakers in the region to advance MFA members’ advocacy goals.
Rob joined MFA in May 2024 from Bank of America, where he led the bank’s government affairs activities in the UK and Ireland, building the brand with policymakers and advocating on post-Brexit capital markets reform. Previously he spent a decade at the UK’s largest high street bank, Lloyds Banking Group plc, leading a team focused on a wide range of public policy issues, policy research, EU affairs, and regulatory affairs during a critical period for the bank as it successfully emerged from partial public ownership.
Rob has nearly twenty years’ experience in the financial services sector, having held government affairs roles at the Spanish bank, Banco Santander, in London and Madrid and at the British bank, HBOS plc. He combines this experience – working on retail, commercial and investment banking as well as insurance and pensions policy – with a deep understanding of the UK and EU policymaking processes. His career started with a period working in the European Parliament in Brussels, in a Westminster-based think tank and in consultancy.
Rob has a degree in Economics and Politics from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.