Financial Crime

A leading Lloyd’s insurer tasked Brighter Consultancy with establishing and operationalising a Risk Management Framework (RMF) for its newly formed Syndicate. The primary challenge was to ensure regulatory compliance, effective governance of risk in a new operating environment, and stakeholder alignment across both internal and external groups.

The global payments firm had its licence suspended by the FCA following significant compliance shortcomings. Major gaps in governance, MI, and financial crime controls left them unable to meet regulatory requirements. Without the necessary in-house expertise or resources, they urgently needed to overhaul their business model, restore their licence under a Section 166 review, and resume normal operations.

The programme was already in full delivery mode when Brighter joined, but fundamental programme management practices were lacking. The programme involved multiple project managers and workstream leads, creating complex dependencies and competing priorities. Delivery was often chaotic, with critical path activities at risk due to governance gaps.

A UK-based Tier 1 bank engaged Brighter Consultancy following regulatory-identified deficiencies that had resulted in significant fines and sanctions. The bank required urgent enhancements to its software, processes, and compliance frameworks to meet regulatory expectations and improve customer protection.

A large Blue Chip Bank engaged Brighter Consultancy to lead the transformation of its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) client screening system. Following an external regulatory breach, the bank was required to implement a “one system fits all” approach to AML screening across its global operations. This was a mandatory deliverable, with progress closely monitored by multiple regulators, including the FCA and CBI.

The specific challenge that the shareholders of the client were facing was whether the business was worth saving, and if so, whether it was capable of survival. There was a real challenge
to understand the dynamics of the multiple headwinds facing the business and whether there was an opportunity (or not) to overcome the deficiencies found by the regulator, which had resulted in the suspension of their licence to trade.

Two major Blue Chip Banks engaged Brighter Consultancy to design and implement a comprehensive Project Governance framework following internal and external audit findings that highlighted inadequacies in their existing change management processes. The existing frameworks were deemed outdated, inefficient, and lacking consistency across business functions.

A leading specialist commercial insurance provider engaged Brighter Consultancy to enhance its catastrophe (Cat) modelling capabilities. Operating across more than 200 countries and territories, the organisation delivers tailored insurance solutions through both company and Lloyd’s platforms, catering to businesses of all sizes.

A leading speciality insurer and reinsurer embarked on a strategic initiative to enhance its data engineering capabilities, improve system integration, and drive technical innovation. As part of this effort, the organisation sought expertise to optimise data processing, streamline risk management, and enhance agile delivery across key business functions.

A leading asset management firm embarked on a transformation initiative to modernise its capabilities through cloud technologies. As part of this journey, the organisation undertook a large-scale migration of its systems from on-premises infrastructure to a cloud-based environment. A critical component of this transformation was the modernisation of its Data Platform and ensuring robust business-as-usual (BAU) support across both cloud and on-premises systems.

The specific challenges that the client was facing centred on ensuring that they could evolve their financial crime systems to be properly compliant without undermining their customer service offering in the banking space.

A fast-growing global speciality insurer engaged Brighter Consultancy to lead the overhaul of its sanctions screening system. Facing increasing regulatory pressure, particularly following a wave of Russian sanctions and a critical FCA industry review, the client needed a solution that could effectively scale with the business, improve outcomes, reduce false positives, and address key compliance risks.

A leading Lloyd’s insurer engaged Brighter Consultancy to enhance and integrate its Catastrophe (Cat) Modelling and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) processes within a global IT environment. The organisation is a recognised specialist in underwriting complex risks, maintaining a geographically diverse portfolio and a strong reputation in the insurance and reinsurance market.