Perspective
Why risk and governance work so often fails — and what to do about it
Risk and governance work fails when there is no clarity. Roles and responsibilities exist on paper but no one can explain them in practice. The three lines of defence are a diagram, not a reality. Risk has no seat at the table where decisions are actually made. Committee structures overlap, create grey zones, and nobody owns the gaps. The problem is rarely a missing framework. It's a missing foundation.
Where I come from
Twenty years inside global banking. Risk, compliance, legal and governance, from local subsidiaries to head office level at ING. Addressing ECB findings with global methodologies that regulators accepted as robust. Coordinating risk domains across countries and presenting new governance concepts to management boards and global teams.
I worked in subsidiaries with real clients and at head office level. I saw both sides. How alignment between head office and local teams determines whether implementation works or doesn't. What happens when decisions are good, and what happens when they're not. How risk can be an accelerator when done right, and a showstopper when it isn't. I learned from both.
Where I focus
Risk management & governance
Governance fails when the basics aren't straight. Before adding layers of reporting and tooling, organisations need clarity: who owns what, where the boundaries are, and what happens when something falls between them. The fewer grey areas and undefined rules, the stronger the foundation.
Regulatory compliance
The organisations that do best with regulators are the ones that treat the relationship as a dialogue, not an audit. A regulator is not an adversary. They're a counterpart. The ones who understand that and engage openly get further than those who prepare defensively and hope for the best.
AI & technology risk
AI and technology risk is everywhere. And banks are very large machines to change. Cyber security, shifting client behaviour, new ways of working for third parties and internal teams. These pressures arrive simultaneously and they don't wait for governance to catch up. Most organisations are still treating these as separate problems. They're not.
Who I work best with
People who are dynamic, open-minded, and genuinely want to improve things. Not just tick the box with a presentation. If you're looking for someone to produce a document that makes the problem look solved, I'm not the right fit. If you want someone who will help you actually solve it, we'll work well together.
I write about these topics regularly.
Read the blog →