“Having worked closely with both Debbie and Nick, I can strongly recommend them – they would make a positive difference to any organisation.  With a strong work ethic and the ability to fix problems and get things done, well worth a chat if you need help embedding risk management,  improving risk maturity, changing culture, or bringing clarity and organisation to the running of your business”  

“I have known both Debbie and Nick for a long time, they have a huge amount of industry experience with a great track record for delivery, bringing relentless focus and execution to any task they are given. They work effectively across all layers of an organisation, working with stakeholders to deliver focussed and pragmatic outcomes . Both of them possess integrity and values that would be an asset to any company and I would have no hesitation in providing my recommendation”  

“I can strongly recommend Nick and Debbie as great people to bring real drive and energy to any business wanting to inject organisation, discipline and rigour to its risk management or governance arrangements.  I have worked closely with Nick and Debbie at different organisations and have seen them both provide strong, independent challenge and take a pragmatic approach to driving better ways of working and finding robust solutions.  Real critical friends who will make a positive difference wherever they work”

“Her solutions are always practical and commercial and through her strong collaboration, influencing and leadership skills she ensures buy-in, achieving the best outcomes for the organisation.  But what sets Debbie apart is her authenticity, her strong value set and her drive to always do the right thing!  She is high energy, positive, works tirelessly, loyal and extremely trustworthy.  An amazing lady who I would recommend to any organisation”

“Nick is a superb leader and team-builder. He engages stakeholders at all levels excellently, in order to drive actions and resolve issues. At the Co-op, Nick built a wide network of strong relationships with Executives and Leaders. He used these relationships, along with a pragmatic and balanced approach, to deliver action plans and increased risk maturity. I have no hesitation in recommending Nick – he will add value to any business”  

“Debbie was a fabulous help to me in setting up the COO function at the Bank, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with her and I will miss her greatly.  Creative and tenacious, Debbie would be a fantastic asset to any company with a problem to address”

“Deb has a rarely practical trait where she can balance managing risk with real commercial practicality and regularly helps navigate the balance between the two in day to day business life.  Deb would be an asset in any team”

“I worked with both Debbie and Nick for a number of years at the Co-operative Bank.  They are both fantastic leaders who demonstrate a deep knowledge of risk but more importantly they understand the context and impact of risk management to drive meaningful and tangible action.  Practical and pragmatic, these guys continually demonstrate the art of “getting things done”.   I have confidence that Debbie and Nick will add value to any engagement and therefore have no hesitation in recommending Rhythm”

“Nick was my risk business partner at the Co-op when I was the Director of Communications. A key part of the team, his wise counsel and proactive approach to managing risk was excellent. His ability to understand the challenges and opportunities for the business and develop innovative solutions with us was also first class. Nick acts with great humility but has a sharp mind and decades of rich experience. I really hope we can work together again in the future”

“Debbie and Nick are not only great to work with, they are highly experienced risk management professionals who delivered on our brief with care and diligence.  Their expert and timely commitment to helping us guide our members through the complexities of compliance is exemplary.  We can highly recommend Rhythm”

Richard Lees

Chief Risk Officer

Metro Bank

Gareth Jones

Chief Risk Officer

Co-operative Bank  

Paul Denton

CEO

Scottish Building Society 

Heather Richards (Lauder)

Non Executive Director 

Andrew Lang

Chief Risk Officer

The Co-operative Group 

Chris Davis

Chief Operating Officer

Co-operative Bank

Jo Mayer

MD of Specialist Services

Barclays Bank

Chris Greenway

Chief Internal Auditor

Rathbone Brothers Plc

Jon Church

Director of Communications

Diane Brocklebank

Executive Director

PIF (Prepaid International Forum)

A common challenge for senior leaders and business owners is how they can gain assurance. How to get a clear view of performance, of costs, whether things are being done in the best way, whether risks are understood and under control. We can provide assurance over any of our service categories or any aspect of your business.

Culture is massively important in any team or business – we are passionate about this and we always seek to take people with us, to achieve buy-in and to create an enduring capability – embedding any new processes and aligning role profiles and objectives/goals with your strategic priorities.

• Underperforming business - management time taken up reacting / firefighting.
• Historic lack of risk management.
• New Executive Team with appetite to understand risks and get on top of them.

• Exercise to identify the biggest risks facing the business.
• Consultation with key stakeholders plus industry analysis and external benchmarking.
• ‘Top risks’ diagnostic prepared and presented at Executive Meeting.
• Debate and challenge in a facilitated and interactive session - outputs documented.

• Consensus regarding ‘top 10’ risks and current level of exposure for each.
• Agreed ownership, target exposure and mitigating actions.
• Created process and MI to ensure ongoing visibility of risks and progress of action plans. 
• Tangible improvement in risk maturity – helped the business respond to Covid-19.

• FCA review identified weaknesses in anti-money laundering compliance
• Rapidly evolving sector attracting new market entrants who can lack the depth of experience of more established firms
• Lack of real-world guidance for smaller firms with more limited resources
• Potential for reputational impact for sector

• Engaged Rhythm to support an uplift in adherence to anti-money laundering regulations
• Undertook sector research to understand nuances and expectations
• Produced a white paper to provide practical and proportionate guidance for members addressing areas of poor practice identified
• Developed real-world worked examples to bring the guidance to life

• A reference document for the sector, in plain language, providing practical steps
• Members were able to 'pick and mix' from the guidance to address their specific concerns
• Templated examples brought the solutions to life and provided further support for members
• Positively received by the trade body and members

• Company had spent a lot of time and money developing the Risk Management Framework (RMF) .
• Ownership and accountability blurred - risk seen as the responsibility of 2nd Line of Defence.
• Risk processes not well understood or being used consistently.
• Flawed reporting and an incomplete / inaccurate risk position.

• Engaged senior leaders, ensuring their RMF responsibilities were understood.
• Developed and delivered a practical and interactive workshop for c300 Leaders, bringing risk to life.
• Assessed knowledge and understanding before and after workshops.

• Improved understanding of key elements of RMF, increase in reported risk events.
• Greater consistency between functions and teams over their assessments.
• Clarity in respect of ownership and accountability in 1st Line and reduced referral to 2nd Line.
• Improved confidence in reporting outputs enabling enhanced oversight from 2nd Line of Defence.

• Brexit – potential impact on the operations of a national food retail business.
• Uncertain timescales and long lead-in meant a challenge to secure sufficient focus.
• Supply of goods from the EU expected to be heavily impacted – fundamental process for the business. 

• Initial identification and sizing of the key risks to the business.
• Creation of group comprising required expertise from frontline business areas and internal experts.
• Scenario exercises to test plans, identify and address gaps.
• External validation of planning approach and coverage from Big 4 consultants.

• A full range of scenarios and eventualities considered.  Detailed and reusable contingency plans created ability to respond quickly.
• Regular briefings and updates to Executive and Board – enabled Chief Executive to respond confidently to Brexit-related questions on live national TV and at annual results presentation.
• Work completed also proved relevant and useful in response to COVID (eg panic buying).

• Complex group organisation with a lack of policies and standards.
• Inconsistencies in processes and governance across different teams and businesses.
• Hard to establish overall position and provide assurance to the Executive.

• Robust but workable approach agreed with stakeholders – pragmatic and flexible.
• Risk category framework created - the main risk types facing the organisation.
• Hierarchy of documents defining categories, high level principles, and detailed requirements.

• Set of Board approved policies.
• Each policy owned by a Senior Leader, held to account for communicating across the organisation.
• Set of standards setting out roles and responsibilities to ensure adherence with policies
• Clear metrics and reporting providing assurance the Executive and Board.

• Finance function coming out of a period of crisis.
• Basics not being done or overseen, obligations and Company policies not being met.
• Majority of management time spent reacting and fixing problems.

• Brought in with remit to bring organisation to the running of the function.
• Consulted key stakeholders, established current situation and requirements.
• Designed a clear set of meetings with focussed agendas, concise inputs and timely outputs.
• Reporting created to enable oversight.

• Smooth operating rhythm – brought discipline to the running of a complex function.
• Structured / focused Executive meetings, halving time spent and achieving more.
• Chief Financial Officer able to focus on Board matters as the function increasingly ‘ran on rails.’
• Function held up as a good corporate citizen – meeting its obligations.

• Following an organisation wide cost reduction programme, objectives not achieved.
• Requirement to further reduce cost base of Risk Function.
• The Risk Function was under regulatory scrutiny and there was a need to improve capability.

• Cost challenge not optional - considered any and all options with varying degrees of extremity, outlining risk vs reward for each.
• Options reviewed and plan created to meet target whilst mitigating risks and consequences.
• Required capabilities was a key focus of process to select colleagues for roles in revised structure.

• Secured Board approval for 3-year plan to reduce direct cost base by c50% - risks accepted.
• Target achieved by merging activities / removing duplication and significant headcount reduction.
• Capability improved with right people in the right roles – including augmenting with external talent

• Core function in an organisation coming out of crisis.
• Uncertainty and low morale across colleagues resulting in high levels of attrition.
• Need to articulate a forward-looking strategy to transition the function and engage colleagues.

• Designed process to find the way forward - inclusive of all views but to arrive at a single strategy.
• Agreed a robust strategy organised into four pillars.
• Targets, timescales and ownership agreed and documented – rhythm of monitoring set in place.
• Created plan to communicate strategy to key stakeholders and all colleagues.

• Agreed strategy articulated in simple, accessible language.
• Through cascade process, clarity for all colleagues on their role in delivering the strategy
• Significant improvement in engagement levels and much reduced number of ‘regretted leavers’.
• Ongoing monitoring of progress against priorities and communication of same to all colleagues

• Disparate risk and control teams across Retail Bank with lack of consistent process / reporting.
• Low level of colleague engagement and limited development opportunities.
• Technical roles at junior level meaning that challenge to senior leaders lacked ‘teeth’.

• Centralisation of all risk and control activities in to one function.
• New role profiles providing clarity and career paths for colleagues.
• Service charters created providing clarity to stakeholders on process, reporting and service levels.

• Operating model and rhythm – created consistency and clarity.
• Improved ability to measure and manage performance - increased challenge and oversight.
• Reduced costs – and basis for further reduction in future years through efficiency and cross-skilling.
• Robust and consistent reporting used at leadership meetings across the bank.

• Executive Director had concerns over the completeness of key management information.
• Information presented at Committees often seen there for the first time.
• No aggregation, or alignment of management information across Teams.

• Engaged with Dept heads and Committee chairs for top down and bottom up analysis to identify gaps.
• Design of a reporting suite covering all key performance, risk and assurance metrics.
• Introduced a consistent monthly pack for review at governance meetings
• Escalated items and aggregated data presented to senior oversight committee.

• Full visibility of key metrics for each Dept and an aggregated view of performance of the Retail Bank.
• Consistent, robust data enabled trend analysis and early identification of issues.
• No surprises at oversight committees as local data reviewed in advance.
• Assurance for the Executive Director and senior team.