Kathryn Morgan, director of regulatory operations, Gibraltar Financial Services Commission
Morgan joined the FSC in 2014 to oversee its supervision and authorisation activity. She spent seven years at the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority where she worked on policy development for Solvency II and supervision. A regular contributor to research and a strong voice in the gender equality debate, Morgan was recently presented with an outstanding contribution award from the UK actuarial profession.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
My role is about identifying risks to the regulatory objectives of the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar. The risks arise from our licensees, who range from insurance companies to pension schemes to auditors, with banks and funds included. What I love is working with my team to identify risks, based on analysing a licensee's business model viability, looking at financial and qualitative information, and meeting the senior management. We can then identify mitigations, ranging from improvements in governance to enforcement.
Another really interesting aspect of my role is working with my enforcement colleagues – particularly when we identify risks to our regulatory objectives from non-licensees and need to take action. In all this we are protecting customers and the reputation of Gibraltar, so we are making a difference, a positive one.
What will be the next big development in risk management?
I'm hopeful that once Solvency II goes live, insurance risk managers will move away from worrying about compliance risk, or model approval, and spend more of their time getting their organisations to think about the risks in and outside the business. As well as that, I'd like to see risk managers looking at risk from their customers' perspective and working with their boards to remove bias or risks in distribution channels.
Who or what has inspired your work?
Michael Tripp, now at Mazars, is a real inspiration. I worked with him on a paper on ERM some years ago, and his practical approach is great. Don Mango from Guy Carpenter is also inspiring. He thinks outside the actuarial box and brings ideas from other industries into insurance risk management. I read the books of Nassim Taleb and Didier Sornette too - they are pushing thinking on risk into new areas.
Who do you most admire in the field of risk management?
Neil Cantle of Milliman. He is very innovative in his approach and has come up with some really creative ideas.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to emulate your success?
Keep going until someone tells you to stop. They never do.
What have you learnt about communicating risk?
Keep it short, work out what the question is that you're answering. Remember who will be reading / listening and what decision you are asking them to take - put yourself in their shoes.
What are your other interests?
I've recently moved to Gibraltar from Manchester, so at the moment my main interests are getting to know Gib and Andalucia and Morocco with my husband and teenage daughter. I run and swim a lot, and did a triathlon last year. I'm still treasurer of my church in Manchester, although we now attend the Anglican cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Gibraltar.
