Liz MacDonald

I work with Financial Institutions, Non-Bank Lenders and Gaming organizations to help translate regulatory obligations into operational processes and controls to demonstrate compliance. Clients usually have a broad grasp of the requirements but many fall short in identifying specific obligations and implementing robust practices to support ongoing obligation management.

Other areas of focus include:

• CDD/KYC remediation with a special interest in Foreign PEPs and what “good” Source of Wealth looks like.
• AML/CTF Independent Reviews.
• Risk and Control reviews.

I enjoy advocating and raising awareness around human & wildlife trafficking typologies within the Financial Services community.

What makes you a Risky Woman?

I use data to drive better risk outcomes.

Name your top 3 achievements

1. Quietly advocating and raising awareness around human & wildlife trafficking typologies within the Financial Servies community. (I facilitated a session for NAB with Hagar Australia, an organization that provides support for trafficked victims in SE Asia. Likewise, when I was a Director at EY in Hong Kong, we ran several sessions with Liberty Asia to raise awareness on Human Trafficking there and what was working from a detection and identification standpoint.)
2. Overcoming my fear of public speaking (I now happily provide risk training).
3. Balancing work and family. (My twins have just finished high school in Australia while my youngest child is 14).

The biggest challenge facing younger Women in Risk is making sure they have support networks in place to enable them to work in a way that takes into account family needs, so that they don’t have to choose between work or family.

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

Leaving the comfort and familiar world of banking and moving into consulting.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I have represented Hong Kong in two sports: Masters Swimming and Gaelic Football.

What is the best quality for successful leaders in Risk?

Curiosity. Being curios and wanting to know more leads to better business decisions and risk outcomes.