An international bank had set its agenda to significantly “disrupt” the financial services market. This was to be achieved through ground-breaking and innovative service-offering and technology use.
In order to enable an overhaul and modernisation of internal processes and strategies, the organisation planned the external hire of a Head of Operational and Technology Risk for the time frame 2020 through 2021.
6 Group was tasked to provide a global overview of the top talent in the operational and technology risk space. The geographic focus was laid on the European, Asian and US markets; sector focus was laid on retail banking, investment banking, digital banking, and fintech.
It was also agreed that the highest-calibre profiles were to be “pre-engaged” for the organisation’s brand and value offering, thereby delivering a potential talent pipeline to be used within the planned hiring cycle. The third deliverable was a detailed Intelligence Report on innovative and “disruptive” service delivery and technology implementations across the targeted regions.
One of the client’s main assets is reputational, with a brand that is known as a market “disruptor”. The mid-term agenda was to reinforce this reputation through service-specific and technological innovation.
The Process
6 Group’s approach was to effectively build a talent pipeline on a global scale, with the view to interview each engaged profile against their fit for the appointed role, as well as to derive detailed competitive intelligence on innovation and disruption from the perspective of a risk leader.
A detailed role description and a range of functional and leadership requirements were drawn up together with the client. This provided a benchmark against which to structure candidate interviews.
Agreed functional and leadership requirements included:
- Evidence of demonstrating enterprise leadership capabilities in line with values and behaviours
- Evidence of experience in defining technology, cybersecurity and resilience risk strategies
- Evidence of setting the technology and operational risk agenda within business-wide priorities
- Knowledge of operational risk capital requirements and associated processes/systems
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Profiles identified worldwide0
Candidates on final pipelineOutcomes
Out of a pool of over 500 identified profiles worldwide, 43 candidates passed 6 Group’s interview assessment and were delivered to the client on a shortlist. This shortlist included individual CVs, contact details and RAG-scores indicating availability time frames.
Further, an Intelligence Report was delivered, discussing the following:
- Region- and sector-specific market trends around the globe
- Competitive insights of internal processes around risk-proofing innovation and disruption
- Organisational charts illustrating leading banks’ risk leadership
- Global perception of the client’s brand
- A global salary survey
Client feedback was unanimously positive, as the scope and depth of 6 Group’s pipeline and Intelligence Report exceeded expectations. Based on 6 Group’s findings, the client has since updated and realigned their internal strategy and affiliated processes towards their long-term goal of “disrupting the financial services market”.
Further, 6 Group has been re-engaged in late 2019 to engage with global C-level talent vis-à-vis mid-term succession planning.
