Muj is a financial services consultant and advisor with extensive experience as Board member, CEO, CFO and Executive Director GRC within the global financial services, banking and fintech sectors. He has held regulator approved SMF1, SM2, SMF3 and CF 29 functions.
He specialises in Prudential and Regulatory Compliance; Risk and Governance; Authorisations and Licencing Applications; Strategy; and PRA and FCA Skilled Person (s166) assignments.
Key accomplishment: As CEO of UK Digital Challenger Bank led full cycle from entity set up, obtained full banking licence, established governance framework, completed M&A and re-launched as a digital bank followed by business development and revenue growth.
Previously he held senior roles at Deloitte and Deutsche Bank, delivering governance frameworks, compliance with PRA, FCA and DFSA regulatory standards and leading finance and digital transformation initiatives. He also advised on M&A, risk, audit, s166 matters and implemented Deloitte best practice standards in later executive roles. He also holds a practising certificate as Chartered Accountant (ICAEW).
Ethos: “Execution” in practical manner, commensurate with operations and size of each client.

The post Muj Malik appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Abigail is an experienced consultant, having carried out roles within the financial services industry for 20 years. She has worked on a wide range of projects for Big-Four consultancies, taking on primarily quality assurance and management positions, and previously worked at the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Abigail has broad financial experience, having worked on wealth management, consumer credit and financial crime projects. She specialises in review work, and led the review team in an assurance review into forbearance concerns for a buy-now-pay-later firm. Abigail is currently studying towards the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist certification.

The post Abigail Bond appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Peter is a Chartered Financial Planner with 14 years’ consultancy experience working primarily with firms within the wealth management sector. He has been involved in the successful delivery of numerous section 166 reviews relating to financial planning and investment management, as well as due diligence exercises on behalf on acquiring firms and assurance reviews.

Peter specialises in past business reviews within the investment industry, where he has designed review frameworks to meet a variety of requirements. He applies technical product and regulatory knowledge to complex reviews of client files and to wider analysis of firms’ advice standards and systems and controls.

The post Peter West appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Arun is a management consultant and banker with over 40 years’ experience, in particular gained as Partner Financial Services, PwC Management Consulting, Deputy CEO and Board Director, Bank of Baroda (UK) Ltd; Founder, CEO of London Business Finance (Bank) Ltd; MD of SWIFT (UK & Nordics); MD of Tata Consulting Services Europe Management Consulting; MD Business Management, London Clearing House.

He has successfully managed a wide range of complex and demanding challenges in financial services organisations, including banks, FMI’s and FinTechs. He specialises in delivering strategy through to implementation, covering most areas: Business Strategy & Transformation; Solvent Wind Down, Restructuring and Remediation; Business Start-ups; Corporate Governance and Culture; Regulatory Compliance; Sales, Marketing, Risk, Finance, IT and Operations Management; Programme Management; BAU Board and Executive management.  

The post Arun Aggarwal  appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Loka Venkatraman is a regulatory and conduct risk specialist with over a decade of experience in the Insurance sector. She is particularly adept at interpreting complex regulatory issues into commercially viable, risk-based solutions.

Her core expertise are product governance, Consumer Duty, conduct risk management, regulatory transformation, and complaints oversight. She has played a leading role in post-implementation reviews, board-level conduct risk reporting, and delivering fair value assessments in line with evolving FCA expectations. Her experience also includes horizon scanning and remediation planning.

Loka has deep understanding of the FCA Handbook and regulatory frameworks having worked with the regulator. She has led large-scale stakeholder engagements, provided senior leadership with regulatory advice, and designed firm-wide training programmes reaching thousands of staff.

Loka has managed workstreams focused on governance, senior management accountability, product oversight, and vulnerable customer frameworks. She also has experience supporting firms with post implementation remediation and Consumer Duty attestations.

A qualified Indian lawyer, Loka holds an LLM in International Commercial Law. Her legal background is complemented by specialist training in financial regulation and investigative practices.

The post Loka Venkatramana appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Ülkü is a senior consultant who has expertise and a solid background in financial regulation. Before joining Pathlight, Ülkü practised law abroad and subsequently worked at an overseas Central Bank.

Ülkü’s work ranges from Business Wide Risk Assessment projects to drafting and revising policies and procedures. She has also worked on governance assignments with an emphasis on SM&CR.

Ülkü has Master’s degrees in Law and Economics (Turkey) and Banking and Finance Law (UK). During the course of her post-graduate studies, she has trained in capital markets regulation, compliance systems and regulation of financial markets.

The post Ülkü Doğan appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Irini is a core part of the Operations team at Pathlight, working with and across the firm to implement process change and transformation projects deploying her organisation and project management skills.

She also works closely with our People team to ensure that People and Operations are in alignment. Irini has a Master’s in Tourism Management and prior to joining Pathlight had significant experience in conference and events management.

The post Irini Rigopoulou appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Aziza is a junior consultant at Pathlight. She has most recently conducted reviews of financial processes and controls as part of a reasonable assurance project.

Aziza has a background in law which complements her keen eye for detail, analytical skills and critical thinking.

The post Aziza Hashi appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Gareth is Pathlight’s Independent Chair and brings his significant consulting experience steering the Board as we expand and grow. 

Gareth spent 26 years at PwC where he was responsible for the management of the relationship of some of PwC’s largest global clients. He has worked across many industries, including 17 years in Financial Services.

From 1999 until 2012 he established relationships with and led advisory and consulting services to 12 significant non-audit clients, including Credit Suisse, Citigroup, British Airways, Microsoft, Fujitsu, Siemens, Nestle and Allied Domecq.  This involved building effective relationships with country and regional Board members, NEDs and business unit CEOs, CFOs and COOs. Gareth was responsible for developing and coordinating services to these clients, and leading on the most significant engagements including several large, complex consulting, regulatory and compliance assignments.

Gareth has overseen many remediation projects arising from regulatory intervention which involved multi-disciplinary teams with competencies including programme and project management, change management, stakeholder management, communications, training and learning and development, HR consultants, technical experts in the valuation of complex financial instruments, actuaries, information technology and security. 

The post Gareth Davies appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Joel has over 25 years of management consulting experience including governance, risk, compliance, financial crime, regulatory compliance, remediation, monitorships, behavioural change and high impact learning and development. Joel spent 15 years as a Director at PwC where he led the business ethics consulting team supporting clients in developing compliance frameworks, behaviours and best practice methodologies. 

Joel has worked with UK and international clients in a range of industries to develop and implement tangible programmes of change both proactively and in crisis situations to help safeguard reputation and build confidence. He has led a wide range of large, complex, global consulting and review engagements for UK and global listed and private clients. He has worked with and on behalf of regulators including FCA, PRA, SFO, and US DoJ and SEC. 

The post Joel Osborne appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Maria Symeon is an executive and organisation development specialist and award-winning coach with over 20 years’ experience working in a variety of business contexts and international cultures (including China, Europe, Middle East, Japan, UK and US).

Maria has worked extensively in the areas of governance, board effectiveness and strategy, culture assessment and culture change, and senior level (including board and c-suite) assessments.  Her experience in this space includes working on several board effectiveness / governance reviews as part of Skilled Person assignments (FSMA s166) mandated by Financial Services regulators in the UK (PRA and FCA).

She has also worked extensively in the areas of executive coaching, leadership development, talent management and succession planning. Maria is experienced in working at executive board / c-suite level facilitating leaders to think through strategy and to create sustainable practices and cultures.

The post Maria Symeon appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Suzie is responsible for the day to day operations at Pathlight having over 20 years experience in operations and governance. 

Suzie has experience of implementing change and process improvement within a regulated environment. She has extensive experience in logistics, commercial services, project, people and production management. This includes New Product Introductions and implementing internal transformation projects such as LEAN manufacturing processes and SAP, working closely with partners in quality assurance, regulatory compliance and global supply chain.

Suzie is a specialist in governance in an educational setting. She is an experienced Chair of governors and has led the board of governors in setting the school’s vision, ethos and strategic direction; holding leadership to account for the performance of the school; overseeing the financial performance of the school and engaging with stakeholders. This includes executive recruitment, OFSTED inspections and school response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

The post Suzie Blackwell appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Aman is a financial crime specialist with over ten years experience working in the financial services sector. She’s worked in a number of roles with a range of clients from international banks to start ups. Her projects have been both at the request of the client and of regulators including the FCA.

Aman has experience of different elements of financial crime including KYC/AML, onboarding, transaction monitoring, PEP and sanctions screening and quality assurance. Her work has involved Skilled Person assignments where she was responsible for conducting detailed testing of financial crime controls within a firm. She is also responsible for conducting a regular monthly quality assurance report for a client to help them improve their output on AML quality across a number of different financial crime areas. 

The post Amandip Kaur appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Christian is a management consultant with over 25 years’ experience as a governance, risk and compliance advisory, assurance and remediation consultant. He has had senior roles in big four and global law firms and is an experienced transformation programme manager. He helps UK and international clients to respond to regulator requests, transform compliance and risk frameworks and align control infrastructures across all three lines of defence.

Christian specialises in regulatory compliance across financial crime (AML/ CTF, ABC, Sanctions, Fraud), retail and wholesale conduct of business, compliance and risk management, operational resilience, systems and controls and organisational governance. He has extensive experience of dealing with regulators in the UK and overseas and has been part of numerous regulatory investigations. In particular those focusing on the transition from investigation to remediation and embedding changed processes, systems and controls into sustainable BAU.

The post Christian Blackwell appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

Duc is a junior consultant at Pathlight. He has been reviewing financial institutions processes for financial and regulatory reporting, and gaining experience in reasonable assurance reporting.

Duc has been involved in Skilled Person assignments conducting reviews of systems and controls for an institutional banking business, focussing on reasonable assurance.

The post Duc Nguyen appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

John is a management consultant who has spent over 25 years’ working in compliance and risk leadership roles in global financial services institutions both as a management consultant and as a regulator. 

John specialises in retail and wholesale conduct of business, client money and assets, compliance and risk management and governance. He has led global compliance functions, delivered material remediation and framework development programmes and has deep experience running multi-jurisdictional commercial, compliance and risk related projects.

John has worked internationally in Europe, Australia and the US and has supported UK and international clients to respond to regulator requests. He has led many regulator mandated reviews including Skilled Person assignments and consent order responses. 

The post John Davison appeared first on Pathlight Associates.

John Higgins is an experienced financial services consultant and advisor working across many areas of regulation, compliance, and reporting (financial accounts and regulatory reporting). John regularly advises boards and senior executives on business critical issues.

John’s diverse experience includes overseeing a compliance remediation and investigation assignment spanning over 100 countries, managing custody and treasury activities for a multi-billion pound portfolio within a financial crisis administration, undertaking a culture and values assessment for a globally significant bank, regulatory and financial reporting advice, interim head of internal audit, and business carve out and wind down work.

John holds a practising certificate from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He is also a member of several other relevant professional bodies including the Chartered Governance Institute, Institute of Engineering and Technology, and Royal United Services Institute.

John has led complex multi-subject PRA and FCA Skilled Person assignments (FSMA s166), advisory work, assurance reviews, and expert witness reporting in complex civil and criminal cases.

The post John Higgins appeared first on Pathlight Associates.