At 1CG, we deliver transformation with impact, scale innovation, and drive change in financial services. From global banks and industry bodies to disruptive fintechs and ambitious corporates, we help organisations achieve clarity, focus, and measurable results.Transformation is complex, but we make it achievable. With two decades of experience in financial services, our founder and team combine expertise with a results-driven mindset. We don’t just advise, we partner with you to deliver important outcomes.1CG isn’t another consultancy, we’re a strategic partner with deep industry expertise, a hands-on approach, and a relentless focus on delivering results. We're on a mission to innovate financial services, redefine customer experiences, and build scalable, sustainable solutions. Whether you’re a bank ready to transform or a fintech poised to scale, let’s shape the future of financial services together.info@1cg.co.uk

Birdie is an AI-powered feedback intelligence platform that acts as a force multiplier for product and go-to-market teams. The core platform creates a searchable single source of truth of feedback & identity data and uses AI to help product teams gain speed and efficiency across their product lifecycle, by uncovering the most impactful requests, deep diving into known problems, and enabling tracking satisfaction with a launched feature, among others. The company currently helps corporates like Microsoft and HP and scale-ups like Tegus and Neon become more customer-centric and data-driven in their strategic decisions. Keep up to date with our progress by visiting https://birdie.ai/

BankAbility’s goal is to help society’s most vulnerable people by building the world’s best technology for social good. Currently in development, we are building an inclusive digital platform to make day-to-day banking accessible for everyone. If you would like to join our waiting list and be kept up to date with our progress then please visit https://www.bankability.app/sign-up

As a member of the advisory board of the Operational Excellence Society, I am part of a team of global operational excellence practitioners charged with bringing innovation, best practices and global solutions to improve the body of knowledge and support members' learning.The society is dedicated to change agents who embrace the ideals of operational excellence, defined as the continuous and deliberate improvement of company performance and the circumstances of those who work there - to pursue operational excellence by design and not by coincidence.It is a platform designed for executives and practitioner in the disciplines of business process improvement (BPI), continuous improvement (CI) and lean six sigma (LSS). https://opexsociety.org/

After speaking with Charlotte (Chair) and Ez (CEO-elect) of CFIT, I knew instantly this was one of those rare career opportunities to deliver real impact across financial services. Only a few years back my passion for the fintech industry led me to complete an executive course at Oxford and now I had the opportunity to play a pivotal role in launching and scaling the industry body created to lead innovation across UK financial services. Even on an interim basis it was an easy choice for me, I had a clear mandate to ensure delivery of the first coalition also.Reporting into the Chair (first 3-months) and then CEO, accountable for operations, finance, technology, risk, controls, reporting, HR and board governance. Leadership for all for first line controls, outsourcing, issue management, operational resilience, and strategic planning. Financial management, forecasting, balance sheet integrity, credit control, payroll, accounting and banking activities. Governance of the HMT-CoLC seed funding. Ownership of company policies, procedures, and compliance. Supporting the Board of Directors and Finance, Audit and Risk Committee (FARCo) to present key business updates. Enterprise framework, HubSpot, MS365, software, hardware, marketing, communications, website, social media. Ensuring business effectiveness to deliver strategic goals in Coalitions, Research, Ecosystems, Partnerships and Talent workstreams.Culminating with completion of the inaugural coalition into open finance joined by more than 60 organisations from across industry, including a wide range of ecosystem stakeholders. From prioritising use cases and data sets to building scalable proofs on concept, the coalition demonstrated that Open Finance can create better outcomes for UK consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).It was an honour to be CFIT’s founding COO, probably the most challenging role (and transformation programme) of my career. So many insights and lessons for my next adventure…

Leaving Askif was a difficult choice after such a great experience in building a team to deliver CBILS with other accredited BBB leaders, however after a successful raise (mostly private equity) key business strategy changed. Speaking with Allegis Global Solutions, they needed a strong leader to deliver a complex material outsourcing BPO programme for a large global banking client. My expertise aligned very well so it was a great opportunity.Accountability for a strategic global initiative across multiple group functions in all 45 regulatory markets. Leading the plan, design and transition of a material outsourcing programme under NDA within a full RFP lifecycle. Delivering all business outcomes in people, operations, technology, communications, finance, risk & transition workstreams. Facilitating negotiation and completion of legal master servicing agreements, all local country agreements and laws. Ensuring country sign-offs, regulatory compliance adherence, business case, financial and service quality outcomes. Supporting risk management, resilience capabilities, supply chain management and local regulatory notifications. I successfully completed three programme phases but after uncovering updated ROI payback challenges within the expected 3-year timeline, I raised the matter with senior ExCo members and a decision was made to stop the programme after multiple financial planning and scenario forecasts. Lots of lessons learnt across group which went into building better risk management protocols in supply chain and service management going forward.

After leaving Barclays, I needed a summer break to spend quality time with my young family, regroup and recharge. I had many great conversations with peers throughout and decided to go back to school and learn topics that interested me. I joined Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and obtained a 1st class distinction in both Executive Leadership and Fintech programmes as I was exploring senior roles in the sector. In parallel, I decided to cold outreach 150+ fintech founders in London to discuss where, what and how I could utilise my skills in the start-up field. I had some amazing conversations, it’s crazy how open people can be when you have a genuine interest in them and their companies. I’m glad to say one of those conversations was with Sam Bamert, CEO and Founder of Ask Inclusive Finance Limited (Askif) and my next journey in financial services.Director of Operations and Projects, (Aug 2020 – Aug 2021)Reporting to the CEO, leading all operations and business transformation initiatives. Designing, building and delivering an operational strategy, aligned with business goals and scale-up plans. Creating talent in operational risk, achieving full BBB external audit pass, improving 100% of all KPIs and team SLAs. Collaborating with BEIS, Innovate UK, BBB, HMT teams to deliver outcomes, objectives, and requirements. Developing analytics and insights to improve unit economics, loan portfolio ownership of internal and external CBILS accredited lenders.Principal Consultant, (Nov 2019 – Aug 2020)Delivered operational go-live requirements with servicing providers, business process design for Mambu platform. Consolidated tasks, refined programme governance to establish business readiness in EFG/CBILS product launches. Reengineered operating model by process scalability in onboarding, credit underwriting and lifecycle management. Defined outsourcing and back-up servicing across organisation to meet requirements.

Moved to Barclays Group and plan was to complete 1-2 programmes before deciding upon a tier 1 management consulting firm (2 offers received). However, I decided to respectfully decline as I was having too much fun in the CIO team. Group level programmes covered system decommissions, platform implementations, banking entity closures, new product launches, and structural reform in Private Bank.Avaloq Credit Foundation, (May 2018 - May 2019)Business design and delivery of Avaloq core booking platform in PBOS Credit, a global solution for asset backed lending and complex mortgages post SRP. Delivered the banking/credit/FX solution for Dublin (post Brexit) also.Structural Reform, (Apr 2017 - May 2018)Client segmentation and transition in Private Bank London, adhering to UK ring-fencing legislation. Providing PBOS regulatory solution to segment 2,500+ relationships, 7000+ clients (c. £16bn AuM) onshore/offshore.Portfolio Finance Jersey, (Nov 2016 - Apr 2017)Product launch of portfolio finance in Jersey from business case to implementation. Providing Private Bank and Overseas Services (PBOS) investment leverage capability. Key enabler of £1.2bn AuM growth in three years.Offshore Business Transformation, (Jun 2016 - Nov 2016)£3 billion transfer c.38,000 credit facilities across UK offshore jurisdictions (GSY, JSY, IOM). Ensuring collateral security for Barclays Group. Transferring deposit taking, lending and banking, releasing c. £1bn capital liquidity.Jersey Consolidation Programme, (Jan 2016 - Jun 2016)£15m funded migration of BPCI Jersey clients from G3 system onto Offshore Investment Platform (Avaloq). Accountable for all programme activity on Credit & FX workstreams and cash/investment collateral portfolios.GIML Migration, (Sep 2015 - Jan 2016)£16m funded migration of clients and investment portfolios from Gerrard Investment Management Limited (GIML) onto Barclays Bank (BB Plc). Leading programme for credit clients secured on discretionary portfolios.

Reporting into the Global Head of Wealth Operations, I held two leadership positions with group level significance. Facilitated strategic transformation for numerous businesses aligning to overall global executive plans. Chairperson of several committees, launched global colleague/team recognition initiatives. A key member of the leadership team focussing on risk management, strategic/tactical change, process improvements, governance, operational performance reviews and remediation.Programme Lead, Wealth Direct (Oct 2013 - Apr 2015)Managing operational delivery of a £100m funded digital D2C Investments proposition for mass affluent segment. Aligned digital transformation for Barclays Stockbrokers, resulting in new value proposition called Smart Investor. Simplified business requirements, evaluated FNZ capabilities, delivered shared services to achieve ROI objectives. In partnership with Head of Design and BAs/PMs to ensure wrap platform solutions met Barclays requirements, liaising with senior management to agree strategy on implementation and client migrations. Head of Credit Operations (Mar 2011 - Oct 2013)Leadership of over 25 colleagues (70 incl. indirect) managing the credit operational requirements of a £10 billion UK private banking portfolio. Managing a multi-location department responsible for all bespoke HNW and UHNW lending. Ownership of full operating model post credit sanction from initial credit agreement review, production of facility letters, drawdown, credit servicing, post drawdown conditions, collateral management to perfecting charges on security. Founded new Glasgow office and enabled further location strategy within UK, Isle of Man, Chennai, and Noida.

Manager (Apr 2010 - Mar 2011)Reporting to Head of Lending within Global Banking & Markets (GBM), managing four teams (Syndicated & Currencies, Bilateral, New Facilities, Fees & Nostro Reconciliations) across all Libor lending for UK Commercial & Corporate Banking. Leadership of 20+ colleagues, BAU volumes of a £15 billion portfolio. Responsible for 500+ daily trades (month-end 4000+) through forward management of operational risk, reviewing KPIs to identify improvements. Lead multi-division projects to improve business processes and strategic growth initiatives.Team Leader (Mar 2009 - Apr 2010)Promoted to manage a team of 8 colleagues supporting Libor lending for UK Commercial/Corporate Banking divisions. Accountable for all new and restructured (Agency/Syndicated/Bilateral) drawdowns. Responsible for liquidity requirements of an £8 billion corporate portfolio. Managing 150+ daily trades (month-end 400+) through execution of new requests whilst maintaining rate treasury fixings, interest and repayment profiles.Loans Analyst (Jan 2008 - Mar 2009)First role in London. Processing Libor lending for UK Commercial/Corporate Banking divisions. Responsible for credit agreements, loan drawdowns, rollovers, repayments and rate fixings for all Bilateral/Syndication loans.

I pivoted from business banking to build a £2m commercial real estate portfolio with my father, delivering a funding strategy to secure new business units in Scotland and Canada. Developing KPI reporting with funders.

First role out of university, quick learning curve to manage SME relationships through effective communication and problem solving. Top volumes across business banking platform, averaging 120+ calls per day (floor average was c. 90). Key tester for new product and service launches due to volume capacities and I helped expand portfolio by 15%. Performed root cause analysis (RCA) for client complaints to improve internal processes.