Why are Risk and Compliance departments so important and what are the challenges these teams face in the global employee benefits (EB) market?

In our latest Our People interview, we sat down with Kirsty Knopp to find out. Kirsty became our Chief Risk & Compliance Officer earlier this year and she told us more about the important role her and her teams have in the EB industry and we also learnt a bit more about Kirsty herself!

You can listen to the podcast below or read on to find out more about Kirsty...

Thanks for joining us Kirsty. Can you tell us about your career journey so far and how it’s led you to this point? 

I've actually been in risk management for about 18 years now. I started my career straight out of school, after doing my A levels. I was meant to go to university, but took a gap year, started working in London and haven't looked back!

I spent around 10 years building my career at a stockbroker before having a small break to have my daughter. When I came back, I worked at a couple of other companies in a general insurance capacity before joining MAXIS in 2020 where I was responsible for setting up the Risk function. Nearly four years later, I'm still here and I'm now heading up the Risk, Compliance and Internal Control teams!

Tell us something you think most people don’t know about working in Risk & Compliance?

I think our function can sometimes be seen as the ‘police’ or the ‘business stopper’ when actually we want to be a business enabler – we want to be able to work with the business. Sometimes I think it's seen that Compliance or regulation is very black and white. But it can be interpreted in a way that can be beneficial for the business. And what we want to do is sit within the business, offer our guidance and try to find a solution that works for everyone.

The financial services industry has transformed significantly in recent years – how do you think the role of Risk & Compliance has evolved?

I think it's the realisation of the importance and the value-add our functions offer. Also, if you look back over the last few years, the regulators can come down quite heavily in terms of fines and sanctions on companies that aren't doing the right thing. On that basis, companies have had a look at the structures and realised: ‘actually they are important and we do need Risk and Compliance – and we need experts in those fields.’ If you take MAXIS as an example – we were a team of three in 2020 and now we're a team of seven.

What’s the biggest challenge facing the EB industry from a Risk & Compliance perspective?

It’s constantly changing and evolving. Generally, with EB you have business across the globe in various jurisdictions. It's then about being able to keep up with that ever-changing regulation not only in your homeplace. For example MAXIS, we're licenced by the FCA in the UK, so we need to adhere to those regulations but we've also got network members around the world and we need to ensure that the local regulations are also followed. So, I think that can be quite challenging at times.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received about how to manage people?

My previous boss used to try to get to know us as people rather than just employees. So, it’s getting to know that person and enabling them to have that regular and open communication, knowing that they've got a safe space to speak about any work or personal issues. If you've got something going on in your home life, it may end up affecting your work life.

Knowing what's going on with your team and maybe giving extra support to somebody who's going through something, can be better for everyone. By giving them flexibility, letting them know there's a work life-balance, you end up getting more effort and more time put in from that person. I think it is just about open communication and letting them know that you're human, too!

What do you do when you’re not working?

I tend to spend a lot of time with my daughter. She's eight now, so she's really become her own little character and we like to go to the theatre, bowling and mini golf (which I always lose at!)

We also spend a lot of time walking our puppy. We live slightly out of London in the countryside, so we've got a lot of woodlands and country parks that are nice to explore.

Can you tell us something we may not know about you?

People are most shocked when I tell them that I have more than 20 tattoos. I think there was always quite a stigma around tattoos in financial services and office-based jobs, so most of mine are in places that are coverable.

I think what's really nice about MAXIS, we have a ‘dress for your day’ policy so if I’m just working with my colleagues I don't need to cover them.

I feel like that stigma has gone away and that somewhere like MAXIS is very inclusive, diverse and nobody judges you for having a tattoo or a piercing.

Thanks for the insights, Kirsty, it’s been great catching up!