On demand webinars

Building strong foundations: Key takeaways for regulatory compliance and effective audit assurance

Description

As we move further into 2025, banks and financial institutions are grappling with a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape and a surge of both internal and external emerging risks. The challenge is no longer whether organizations should integrate GRC practices, but how they can do so effectively to ensure resilience, accountability, and regulatory alignment.

In this session, we will delve into how the banking environment is changing, driven by factors such as regulatory developments, macroeconomic shifts, and evolving customer expectations. We will discuss how strengthening internal controls can help organizations identify and mitigate emerging risks more effectively, and highlight the role of robust reporting in maintaining transparency and trust with internal governance and regulators. Tools like AuditBoard will be highlighted as critical enablers, offering a centralized platform for real-time risk tracking, control testing, workflow automation, and compliance reporting.

Get vital insights into how to build a more adaptable risk and compliance foundation — one that not only supports today's complex requirements but also scales to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

About the speakers

Leslie Watson-Stracener is a Managing Director in Grant Thornton's Risk Advisory Services practice, where she serves as the Regulatory Compliance Capability Leader. Leslie has over two decades of experience in the financial services industry and consulting. She specializes in banking services and her experience includes assisting clients with the design and implementation of controls and risk management frameworks to help clients identify and mitigate compliance and operational risks.

Her extensive experience, along with her expertise in process design and controls implementation, help organizations navigate regulatory uncertainties and develop robust risk management frameworks. Throughout her tenure, Leslie has led multiple engagements supporting large financial services clients with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB"), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), Federal Reserve Bank ("FRB"), and Department of Justice ("DOJ") enforcement actions, complaints, and consent orders, and the associated regulatory remediation actions. Her work in building comprehensive compliance programs will provide actionable insights into the practical strategies needed to meet the challenges of the evolving regulatory environment.

Oliver Dennison is a Principal in Grant Thornton’s Financial Services Advisory Services practice with over three decades of experience advising financial institutions in risk and technology. Olly delivers integrated services across compliance and risk management, with a focus on data management, model and segmentation risk, credit, and regulatory change. He is an experienced practitioner of control and process design and re-engineering, with a focus within finance, risk, and compliance on the data management, lineage, and controls aspects of these change programs. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Oliver worked directly for three of the largest Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) in senior risk roles.

Olly’s deep expertise in regulatory compliance, risk management, and data governance uniquely positions him to offer valuable insights into the evolving regulatory landscape in 2025. His experience with global G-SIBs and his leadership in integrating risk and compliance strategies will be essential in discussing how financial institutions can build resilient, future-ready systems that meet emerging regulatory demands.

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