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Business Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
To define the scope of projects in conjunction with business sponsors, analyse requirements and specify operational and technical change across USSIM. To take responsibility for providing business analysis across various projects and BAU initiatives, with involvement in activities throughout the full project lifecycle including process definition, system requirements, testing (functional and technical) and implementation.
The successful candidate will be involved in a variety of projects that are either strategic, regulatory or discretionary across the USSIM business areas but with certain emphasis on supporting fixed income and FX investment processes. They will report to the Head of Business Analysis within the USSIM Business Change team.
Key responsibilities
The BA is expected to provide the analysis that will define the scope, requirements and success criteria for a variety of initiatives, often in support of the Fixed Income and FX teams. They will coordinate input from relevant business areas, liaising with the technology change teams (IMS) where appropriate, to define and document proposed solutions for presentation back to business stakeholders for review and sign-off. The BA will act as a point of contact for business and technical colleagues through to solution delivery.
The individual will be expected to support Business Change Project Managers and USS PMO, with responsibility for tracking against agreed deliverables and timelines, capturing associated risks and issues, escalating to the Project Manager or Head of Business Analysis as appropriate. They may also be required to provide input to project reporting including SteerCo representation.
The key tasks are expected to be:
• Define the scope of the project, agreeing high level aims with stakeholders.
• Define detailed business and systems requirements in conjunction with users and developers.
• Prepare a range of documents and project artefacts as required to suit the task at hand.
• Assess implementation options, influencing stakeholders to select the most appropriate solution.
• Highlight the implications of each solution not only in terms of project delivery but also business value and on-going support or effort levels.
• Document the current state, proposed outcome and target operating model.
• Planning, preparation, participation in and oversight of testing, transition and implementation.
More generally:
• Assisting with the design and analysis of solutions.
• Liaising with developers to understand technical opportunities and constraints, identify practical solutions, both strategic and tactical where appropriate, and to help prioritise work into releases.
• Analysis and documentation of requirements.
• Formal documentation of design and solutions processes.
• Feasibility analysis.
• Impact assessment of changes.
• RAID log management.
• Develop effective relationships across the business.
• Assist with RFP / selection process for third party vendors where applicable.
Your experience
• Extensive prior business analysis experience (essential).
• Technical familiarity and experience writing systems documentation (essential).
• Close involvement with fixed income investment teams and systems (strongly preferred).
• Experience of either managing workstreams within large projects or project management of smaller projects (strongly preferred).
• A strong background in financial services, with specific asset management and pensions sector experience (highly desirable).
• Experience of mapping processes, both current and target, with the ability to summarise key elements succinctly for articulation to senior management.
• Good relationship and stakeholder management skills, with an ability to engage with and gain the confidence of others as well as challenge where appropriate.
• Strong communication skills (written, pictorial, presentational and verbal) including the ability to adapt communications to different audiences.
• Logical, structured thought processes and good problem-solving skills.
• Routinely demonstrates a proactive and constructive approach to issue resolution.
• Operates to own exacting standards with attention to the smallest detail.
• Highly competent at prioritisation, process organisation, and management of multiple work-streams
• Ability to deliver high quality work under tight timelines.
• Strong compliance culture and high personal ethical standards.
• Experience of management information typical of that provided to ExCo is desirable.
• Flexible approach to work.
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Operations | 30/09/2020 |
| London |
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Company Secretarial Coordinator
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
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Key responsibilities
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Your experience
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USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Group General Counsel | 22/09/2020 |
| London |
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FP&A Planning and Performance Manager
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
Responsible for facilitating the translation of USS purpose and business strategy into a series of medium term and in year objectives, demonstrating the alignment of the supporting financial plans and budgets with these objectives and the underpinning strategy. Produce the 3 Year Plan, Defined Contribution (DC) Business Plan, Annual Business Plan and Budget documents for Executive and Board committees and the USSL and USSIM Boards.
Key responsibilities
• Play a leading role in the strategic planning process, including the creation of the 3 Year Plan, the DC business plan, the annual Business Plan and Budget
• Facilitate the translation of agreed strategy into medium term and in year objectives, supporting and guiding business leaders across the 3 business segments in the creation of their objectives aligned with the USS purpose and strategy
• Produce all required business plan documents for Executive and Board audiences. Create a compelling narrative that demonstrates the alignment of purpose, strategy, objectives and the supporting financial plan and budget
• Work with colleagues across FP&A in Liverpool and London and the business to ensure that business plan papers provide insight and are supported by the required depth of analysis
• Co-ordinate the creation of a suite of KPIs to demonstrate appropriate business control and the stakeholder impact of the delivery of strategic objectives
• Leverage insight developed in the Pension and Investment segment to develop the Group’s VfM framework. Draw insight from CEM, CTI, bi-lateral cost benchmarking and other initiatives to demonstrate that USS provides stakeholders with a VfM proposition. Demonstrate the linkages with the 3YP and in year objectives to evidence how VfM will continue to be improved
• Produce the annual Review of the Year document, synthesising input from business leaders across the Group into a compelling and balanced narrative
• Undertake an analytical review of regular business performance reporting outputs both for the Investment and Pension segments and the consolidated USS Group picture. Ensure a holistic approach is taken to performance reporting and that the commentary provided by the segment finance teams is accurate and insightful
• As appropriate provide support in strategic or ad hoc projects or requests. Co-ordinate inputs and analysis from colleagues across Finance to provide high quality, insightful outputs
• Support the Head of FP&A and Business Partnering in developing a continuous improvement culture in the FP&A team
Your experience
• Qualified Accountant - CIMA/ACCA/ACA
• Previous experience within a similar organisation would be desirable
• Proficient in the creation of business plan documents for Executive and non-Executive audiences. Able to translate complex financial data and analysis into a compelling business plan, blending narrative and graphical approaches to tell the story
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Proficient in the use of MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship building skills; with a demonstrated ability to build a network outside of Finance
• Communicating & influencing
• Commercial knowledge & focus
• Change & innovation
• Analysing & problem solving
USSL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Finance | 14/09/2020 |
| Liverpool |
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Non-Executive Director
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
n/a
Key responsibilities
n/a
Your experience
n/a
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| UUK | 09/10/2020 |
15/11/2020
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OMS Market Systems Support Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
Working as part of the wider Investment and Market Systems Support area, with responsibility for supporting Bloomberg AIM and other trading/analytics/market data services provided by Bloomberg or other Third Parties. As a support function, the role will also provide L0/L1 assistance for the wide range of systems developed and or/implemented by the Investment and Market Systems team.
Key responsibilities
Delivering Results
• Monitor production processes and respond to issues/failures.
• Act as the first point of contact for any issues or queries raised against Bloomberg or other IMS-managed applications. Record and take ownership of issues using JIRA and follow this through to successful resolution.
• Manage and resolve all issues and queries within Service Level Agreements set in the Application Support Team, in so far as third party SLAs allow.
• Be flexible in working patterns to ensure support coverage during the business day.
Managing Relationships
• Provide regular, timely updates to stakeholders during issue investigation and resolution.
• Manage expectations of users and IMS management if SLA cannot be achieved, including proposed mitigation and/or workaround.
• Escalate issues as required to IMS and Business management.
Managing Processes & Future Focus
• Take a proactive view to the work that is performed within Bloomberg Support, identifying and implementing improvements that increase efficiency within the team.
• Work with IMS and third-party delivery teams to implement long term solutions for support issues.
• Produce and maintain support documentation and procedures in Atlassian Confluence or similar.
• Contribute to the design phases of new initiatives to ensure an effective support model will be in place from the outset.
Your experience
• Electronic trading workflow on EMSX and TSOX. The candidate must have prior experience in troubleshooting trade booking issues and assisting with the onboarding process for new traders.
• Compliance rule coding on CMGR. The candidate will liaise with key stakeholders to review mandate guidelines, coding the investment restrictions, testing to ensure the desired output is achieved and investigating active trade violations raised by the business teams.
• Position management tools such as MAV, BDS and PORT. The candidate should also be familiar with the benchmark and models functionality within the AIM OMS system.
• Onboarding of new portfolios and users on FIRM.
• Configuration of data feeds in TSIP as well as experience creating ad-hoc Data License requests.
• Administration of commissions rules in CUTS.
• Familiarity with general functionality within Bloomberg for market and pricing data is essential.
Desirable experience and qualifications beyond Bloomberg include:
• A financial qualification such as IMC or CFA or a finance-related bachelors’ degree.
• Experience supporting other front-office and compliance tools such as equity & fixed income TCA products and/or shareholding disclosure applications.
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft SQL.
• Basic knowledge of a job scheduling tool such as JAMS, Autosys or similar.
• Basic knowledge of Confluence and JIRA.
• Basic knowledge of XML editors such as Notepad++, Visual Studio or similar.
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Operations | 07/08/2020 |
| London |
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Procurement Category Manager
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
Maximising value through: supplier and contract/commercial management; and the organisation, processing, reporting and control of all external purchasing expenditure.
Key responsibilities
Working with the Head of Procurement to increase value for USS members and operational control through improved management of new and existing suppliers and associated approval to spend processes.
Specific responsibilities:
• Maintain procedures, controls and guidance for improving the procurement and management of suppliers across business areas, encourage adoption of these and assess areas for improvement through regular collaboration with business areas and ongoing monitoring of adherence. This will include delivering training to non-Procurement and non-Finance individuals in the organisation
• Provide partnering and guidance to business areas, ongoing value benchmarking, procurement advice (including input to ITTs/RFPs), and making timely plans for exit/replacement. This will mainly involve internal partnering, and working with external advisors, and providing support for the Head of Procurement for a small number large suppliers which provide complex services where direct engagement is required.
• Input into benchmarking strategies for the key suppliers, in collaboration with business areas.
• Monitor key supplier health and market events for exposure risks.
• Review and cleanse supplier data to support MI initiatives. Analyse expenditure and recommend strategies for improving value (including savings/rationalisation opportunities).
• Control and monitor expenditure trends identifying recommendations for savings, report all external expenditure in accordance with policy and best practice, highlight pertinent implications and emerging issues through the appropriate meetings.
• Identify, initiate and deliver improvements to expenditure and purchase controls partnering with the Finance Team.
• Provide specialist support to the Purchase Ledger team and be responsible for continuous improvement of the Purchase Ordering systems and processes
Your experience
• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience
• Hold a professional finance, contract management or procurement management qualification
• Excellent business and commercial acumen
• Capable of building collaborative relationships at every level across the business and with external advisors and suppliers
• A credible finance professional capable of representing the organisation and its commercial interests in contract negotiations
• A good communicator who seeks to understands the commercial implications and builds collaborative relationships at every level across the business
• Strong analytical skills, problem solving capability, an enquiring approach and ability to challenge
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Able to work in a manner that is consistent with the organisation’s ethos and values
USSL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Finance | 05/10/2020 |
| Liverpool |
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Public Markets Operations Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
The Operations Department is organised into three teams; Public Markets, Alternatives support and Onboarding/ reporting.
The role sits within the Public Markets Operations team & is focused on supporting the end to end lifecycle of public markets assets.
The role requires a high level of stakeholder engagement with the ability to manage multiple initiatives.
Attention to detail is critical with the ability to set own priorities and manage to multiple daily deadlines.
Key responsibilities
Public markets
Delivery
• Responsible for trade affirmation/ confirmation processes, for all products, escalating to brokers or internal PM’s as required
• Assessing funding requirement and the funding of central mandates including requesting FX transactions
• Moving cash into or from mandates as required
• Ensuring that enough collateral is available in the long box, liaising with the Treasury team.
• Complete cash and stock reconciliations daily, investigate timely & escalate issues as appropriate
• Complete IBOR vs ABOR reconciliation process, investigate timely & escalate issues as appropriate
• Support operational enhancement testing as prioritized by the team
• Support delivery on new business initiatives into the team
• Operate with minimal errors
• Ensure all teams procedures are accurate & up to date in line with internal policies
• Perform EMIR & SFTR oversight responsibilities
Stakeholder engagement
• Provide value by working closely with portfolio managers
• Liaise with Performance, Risk and Finance as required
Reporting
• Create and deliver daily cash projection report & other treasury reporting packs
• Monitor Bloomberg mandate guidelines daily, escalate mandate breaches to desk & record mandate breaches accordingly
• Deliver data for Weekly operating Report & team MI pack
• Perform regulatory reporting duties to internal stakeholders
• Identify & report risk events in line with business expectations
Third party Relationships
• Own daily relationship with JPM for custody, accounting, GDS and DCM
• Own daily relationship with NT for custody and accounting
• Attendance at third party service reviews as required
• Own daily relationship with Clearing Brokers, External Managers & Hedge Fund
Development
• Look for training opportunities to enhance skills
• Improve personal skill matrix score each year
Teamwork
• Strong can-do attitude to work effectively as part of the team
• Willingness to help others in busy periods
Your experience
• Business/ Finance experience of working within a Middle Office/ product control function within the asset management industry
• IMC/CFA qualification advantageous
• A depth of product knowledge across multiple products (OTC derivatives cleared and bilateral, Equity, bonds, FX, ETD and collateral management)
• Knowledge of regulatory reporting is an advantage
• Experience of Bloomberg AIM
• Attention to detail
• Track record of initiative/project delivery
• Flexible approach to re-prioritise as needed
• Good Excel skills – VBA/Macro experience beneficial
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Operations | 30/09/2020 |
| London |
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Senior Alternative Operations Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
The Operations Department is organised into three teams; Public Markets, Alternatives and Onboarding/ reporting, with this role sitting with the Alternatives team. The role will provide exposure to our end-to-end process which support both existing and new alternative assets, working closely with the front office team and support areas.
Key responsibilities
Private markets
Delivery New business
• Work closely with the Private Market deal teams, understanding the operational implications of a deal (accounting considerations, cash flows, valuations, and structuring considerations where applicable) – assisting in the implementation of new or existing operating models where required, ensuring understanding is documented.
• Work with external third-party providers, whilst co-ordinating with stakeholders internally, to ensure any new service provisions with a third party meet the associated deal requirements.
• Liaise with Performance, Risk, Legal, Compliance and Finance as required
Delivery existing business
• Responsible for asset set up, settlement instruction maintenance. Confirmation of an initiation of cash flows.
• Management of the efficient funding of the mandates requesting FX transactions and generation of subscriptions / redemptions and distributions
• Liaison with the Public markets funding function
• Complete cash and stock reconciliations daily and escalate as appropriate
• Complete Rift process and escalate issues as appropriate
• Operate with minimal errors
Reporting
• Liaise with Aztec to ensure mandate guidelines are monitored and provide a regular summary report
• Report any events within 24 hours into accelerate
• Deliver data for Weekly operating Report
• Prepare slides for the Alternative operations oversight meeting
Third party Relationships
• Grow and develop the relationship with Aztec for Find administration
• A growing interaction with additional third party providers, whilst assisting with the implementation of a new third party framework.
• Relationship with JPM for any listed portfolios and for the unitisation of Private market mandates
• Attendance at third party service reviews as required
Development
• Look for training opportunities to enhance skills
• Improve personal skill matrix score each year
Stakeholder management
• Build a strong relationship across the internal supply chain from initiation to delivery with all areas. Drive solutions that are scalable and controlled.
• Develop close working relationships with third party service partners
Your experience
• Accounting qualification required (ACA/ACCA)
• CFA/CAIA qualification advantageous
• Deal implementation background, considering operational and finance related components
• Business/ Operational experience of working within an alternative’s manager
• A depth of product knowledge across multiple products (Private Equity, debt, both direct and through funds)
• Knowledge of fund structuring is advantageous
• Problem solving with independent though
• Experience of Bloomberg AIM
• Attention to detail
• Track record of initiative/project delivery
• Flexible approach to re-prioritise as needed
• Can do attitude
• Good Excel skills
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Operations | 10/09/2020 |
| London |
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Senior Application Developer
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
As a 6-month, fixed term position, the main purpose of the role is to;
• Develop technical solutions in the form of bespoke software and third-party products with a particular focus on Fixed Income trading and SFTR Reporting.
• Deliver core systems and development processes/tools as identified in the IMS roadmap to enable a robust, supportable production environment.
Key responsibilities
With particular focus on Fixed Income trading and SFTR reporting;
• Analyse technical/business problems and document requirements
• Develop quality software to meet the evolving technical/business needs of USSIM, documenting as required
• Knowledge share across the team with some mentoring from more senior members
• Participate in team workshops
Your experience
• Extensive experience expected in the following technologies:
o C# / MVC / ASP.NET / PowerShell / HTML5 / JavaScript / Python
• Expected to produce clear, concise, maintainable code.
• Ability to share knowledge / experience.
• Financial exposure, preferably gained through experience in a buy side institution or asset owner.
• Experience of Fixed Income / Repo products and regulatory reporting desirable.
• Experience with using cloud computing / Azure infrastructure desirable.
USSL is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| Operations | 25/08/2020 |
| London |
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Senior Investment Risk Analyst
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has circa 396,000 members, and over £60 billion in assets, we’re one of the largest private pension schemes in the UK and in the top 50 worldwide. Established in 1974, we’re entrusted by over 350 higher education sector employers to manage and administer the pension scheme and its investments through our two companies, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited and USS Investment Management Limited.
Our purpose
Working with Higher Education employers to build a secure financial future for our members and their families.
The role
To take responsibility of risk reporting from different investment desks including equities and fixed income. In order that the reporting is a success the role will necessarily involve a substantive amount of engagement with front office teams.
Key responsibilities
Delivering Results
• Enhance analysis and insight on internal portfolios to support USSIM investment governance framework
• Improve consistency between risk reporting for in-house versus external managers
• Analysis and monitoring to support the management of mandate level investment guidelines
• Quality control of reports
Managing Resources
• Design, implement, and subsequently maintain enhanced mandate level risk reporting.
• Building and maintaining robust processes to ensure analysis is timely and accurate.
• Proactively drive development of analytics and bring rest of team on-board with plans
Managing Relationships
• Participate in meeting and discussions with Investment Programme Management, desk heads and the wider organisation to better understand requirements and to build trust
Managing Processes & Future Focus
• Keep abreast of industry developments
Your experience
• Numerical degree in Finance, Statistics, Mathematics or the like
• Long experience in investment risk modelling
• Excellent understanding of asset classes, instruments and risk management techniques
• Good understanding of active management strategies
• Good understanding of investment risk analysis and attribution across multiple asset classes
• Comfortable working with and manipulating time series data and conducting statistical analyses
• Understanding of financial markets and instruments gained through courses or experience
• High degree of computer literacy, ability to programme in SQL, Excel VBA, Python, or MatLab
USSIM is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
| PAIR | 29/09/2020 |
| London |