Harrods Bank Regulatory Turnaround
The Situation
I was brought in as Transformation Director and acting COO at Harrods Bank during a full-blown regulatory crisis. The FCA had effectively frozen new business activity due to major compliance gaps, and confidence internally was fractured. The change programme meant to address the issues was floundering—too slow, poorly scoped, and lacking leadership alignment
The Task
My mandate was twofold: 1) Get the business back to compliant trading status, and 2) reset the entire transformation roadmap, including a £20m digital core banking replacement that was going nowhere. The clock was ticking, the board was under intense scrutiny, and morale was at an all-time low.
The Action / Approach
I started with a brutal diagnostic. We stopped pretending things were on track. I sat down with regulators, the board, and front-line teams to get an honest picture—technically, operationally, and culturally.
I restructured the programme into three distinct workstreams: immediate compliance remediation, medium-term digital architecture, and long-term operating model design. I re-scoped the failing digital transformation initiative, ditched a bloated vendor proposal, and built a leaner, phased platform strategy.
Culturally, I created a ‘regulatory war room’ environment—daily stand-ups with IT, Risk, Compliance, Ops—and re-established trust with the FCA through clear, achievable commitments. Internally, I focused on visible leadership, psychological safety, and rebuilding confidence in delivery. I also brought in a delivery lead with credibility and influence to steady the internal programme team.
The Result
Within six months, the business was back to compliant trading—approved by the FCA. Within nine, we’d secured full board sign-off for a realistic £20m digital platform strategy, aligned with regulatory timelines.
But the real win was cultural—we moved from paralysis to action. Teams re-engaged, the board got clarity, and the regulator shifted from adversarial to cooperative. That turnaround wasn’t about flashy tech—it was about seeing the system clearly, facing the uncomfortable, and creating momentum.
What I learned is this: transformation doesn’t fail because people resist change—it fails when leaders fail to create the conditions for belief. We didn’t just fix a programme. We rebuilt trust—and that’s what made the change stick.”
SO WHAT?
This experience reinforced what I bring to senior roles: the ability to diagnose not just the technical gaps, but the emotional blockers; to reset a failing initiative without losing people along the way; and to drive pace without panic. That’s why I thrive in roles where transformation isn’t optional—it’s mission-critical.
