Senior risk management hires form part of the bank’s advance towards best-in-class anti-financial crime and credit risk management standards

Crown Agents Bank (CAB), a leading wholesale bank for emerging markets,hasmade two senior appointments focused on supporting the bank’s rapid expansion following its acquisition by funds managed by Helios Investment Partners. The appointmentsbring in leaders in their field to enhance the bank’s capacity for tackling financial crimeand assessing credit risk in its core markets.

Paul Nolan has been appointed MLRO, the bank’s Money Laundering Reporting Officer,as well as head of the anti-financial crime team; he reports to Chief Risk Officer, Doug MacLennan. Meanwhile, Simon Harris has been appointed non-executive Chair of the Credit Risk Committee. Both appointments ensure the bank’s continued compliance and credit risk excellence while also building capacity – allowing the bank to fulfil its ambition of becoming a leading transaction bank for emerging markets.

Paul Nolan joins as part of the ongoing process of building the bank’s risk capacity. He is an industry expert in financial crime having spent 30 years at Citi and Northern Trust. As well as anti-money laundering, his responsibilities include all aspects of anti-financial crime including fraud and anti-bribery and corruption.

With respect to credit risk in the emerging markets, Simon Harris has over 30 years’ experience, particularly in Africa and Asia. He joins from Standard Chartered Bank, where he was Regional Credit Officer for Africa and Europe. Previously he held senior credit risk roles at HSBC, including in a number of roles based within emerging markets. Harris will take responsibility for the bank’s Credit Risk policies, principles, procedures and portfolios. As an internationally respected credit professional with an emerging markets focus, Harris’s role will be to help CAB take advantage of the strong opportunities emerging from some of the world’s most demanding but high-growth markets.

“By remaining committed to markets that are frequently underserved, Crown Agents Bank’s mission is both challenging and exciting,” says Simon Harris. “There are growing opportunities in these markets – with respect to both local companies that are hungry for growth, and the local financial institutions eager to feed them. And that makes CAB’s role – providing the infrastructure, expertise, and resources required –critical. My role is to ensure CAB is able to perform this role safely, regardless of the political or economic backdrop.”

The appointments come as part of a transformation strategy following significant investment by funds managed by Helios Investment Partners. With the stated objective of creating a leading transaction bank for emerging markets, the hires underline CAB’s ambition of extending its coverage, enhancing its services and consolidating its strong reputation in often-underserved markets.

Richard Jones, CAB’s Group CEO, says: “I’m delighted to welcome Simon and Paul onboard. Both are recognised experts in their field – bringing a wealth of experience. Crown Agents Bank will continue its expansion, with the aim of enhancing our services to existing and new clients during a time of widespread retreat from emerging markets by mainstream banks.We look forward to working with Simon and Paul in terms of establishing best practice, which – itself – is part of our commitment to be best in class.”