As with many risk improvements, Norton’s decision to implement a risk management framework was driven in part by regulation.
The combination of the Consumer Duty directive and a desire to generally improve consumer outcomes led the firm to bring in a senior risk manager to look at enhancing the risk measurement and management process.
Of course, compliance wasn’t the only goal, and the family-run firm was also keen to move towards the kind of governance frameworks that are typically deployed by much larger companies. Ultimately, the goal was to make sure that risk management was a driving force in strategy discussions at governance meetings and that risk management was used to help formulate the objectives of the organisation.
Marc Howson was recruited as group director of risk and compliance at Norton and tasked with the overhaul. He says it was a great opportunity to build something from the ground up and implement lessons that he’d learnt from other roles.
“Norton’s main goal was to enhance the level of governance around discussions around risk management”
He explains: “It’s unusual to have the opportunity to go into a business and create a new risk framework,…
