Unlocking Success in FS Regulation with Caitlin Gibson (Brooks)

I'm delighted to introduce Caitlin Gibson, Director, Head of Financial Crime Second Line Oversight at NatWest Markets. Caitlin's path from exploring financial crime during university to her current leadership role offers invaluable insights for junior women navigating the complexities of the banking sector. Discover how she overcame obstacles, built a personal brand, and drove positive change in gender diversity, providing empowering lessons for career advancement and success in financial services regulation. Don't miss out on Caitlin's story, filled with wisdom and guidance for aspiring women in finance.

Could you explain how you started in your career and how you’ve reached the position that you’re in today?

I first experienced working in financial crime while I was at university studying law, when I got part time job working in the Fraud prevention team at RBS.

I found the area of financial crime interesting, so much so that I decided to dedicate my dissertation to it on the subject of PEP regulation (a very hot topic at the moment just as it was when I was researching the 2007 regulations!).

From university, I went into contracting in various financial services firms then made the move from my native Scotland down to London where I joined EY in their Financial Crime (FC) Advisory team.

An opportunity to work at the regulator in their FC supervision team came up and I thought it would be a great to see FC from a different perspective having already worked in industry and consulting. My time at the FCA was so valuable as I was able to make a tangible difference and drive change in FCA guidance and in how we supervised firms.

After this, I moved over to NatWest Markets where I have been for almost 6 years now and I am currently, Director - Head of Second Line FC Oversight.

I have recently embarked on one of my biggest life milestones yet, as I went on maternity leave in February ahead of the arrival of our first baby.

Did you encounter any specific barriers or obstacles when building your career that could be attributed to your gender, and how did you overcome these?

I don’t feel that personally I've been held back specifically due to my gender, but I am acutely aware of the biases, conscious or not, that exist.

Having rigid hiring requirements can mean that women may start off with a disadvantage.

Specifying a certain number of years’ experience for a senior role e.g., 15 -20 years can attract the same type of person onto what is often already a non-diverse leadership team, given that 20 years ago diversity was even worse that it is today!

This stifles the female talent pipeline, so intervention is required to break this cycle.

Clearly there needs to be a baseline of skills and experience for leadership roles, especially those that are regulated but there is also value in introducing diversity.

Hiring a woman who can demonstrate the equivalent skills, breadth of experience and is high performing (albeit not for the same length of time) vs someone who has performed similar roles for 20 years.

Number of years doesn’t always equal quality.

Similarly, the word ‘gravitas’ is often mentioned in job descriptions– it has connotations of alpha confidence.

Using the ‘4 colours’ personality scale, having gravitas is more conducive to those who are on the yellow and red end of the scale (extroverted) vs those who are blue and green (introverted).

You often hear from women that they are told they aren’t ‘assertive’ enough because this is the style of how decisions tend to be made at senior level.

There is a place for all personality types on a team so the focus should be on the outcome instead of the way they achieve it. You can be introverted / not the loudest person in the room and achieve great things too!

How do you think that your unique perspective as a female leader might have contributed to any of your career achievements or success to date?

I've been increasingly more aware of the importance of my personal brand throughout my career. What makes you stand out, what you are known for and how your stakeholders would describe you when you’re not in the room are fundamental to progression.

A phrase that frequently comes up in promotion process or development feedback is that someone isn’t ‘visible enough’. This suggests that their personal brand and/or stakeholder management isn’t strong enough yet.

Earlier in my career this is feedback that I reflected on. A personal brand doesn’t just happen overnight, you need to work on it over time and ensure you are self-promoting it.

Make sure that when your name is mentioned during a promotion panel or calibration round, people know who you are.

While building a strong personal brand isn’t unique for female leaders, given some of the biases that exist, as mentioned in the previous question, showing people how you add value and deliver is key to differentiate yourself and evidence that you are worthy of that position!

What positive changes, if any, have you seen over the course of your career in terms of gender diversity in your industry and what strategies or initiatives have brought about these changes?

In FC I think gender diversity is generally good amongst the junior levels up to VP, but there is still room for much improvement in more senior corporate grades and leadership/ex-co positions across the industry.

I'm grateful to have been enrolled on various development programmes throughout my career and most recently attended a course designed specifically for senior women. I found this incredibly valuable not only to develop more self-awareness about skills that I could enhance to further my career but also in expanding my network with the other women on the course.

I would recommend exploring what is available where you work. Female talent development is something I am incredibly passionate about.

Last year I was a coach on a gender development programme that is targeted towards junior women. This involves teams coming up with a Dragon’s Den style pitch to senior ‘dragons’ on a specific subject over the space of 12 weeks. It was remarkable to see the talent in these groups and the ideas they came up with!

I am also part of an ‘Inclusive Interview Ambassador’ scheme that is being rolled out to ensure that there is someone impartial as part of the interview process to overcome any biases that may exist. This is a great initiative that extends beyond gender diversity.

Leadership needs to show that they are actively taking steps to improve where there is most gender disparity.

Ultimately, actions speak louder than words so seeing some tracking of improvement over time will help transparency and evidence commitment on diversity.

How do you maintain a strong sense of well-being in, what can be, a stressful and pressurised working environment?

Maintaining a work-life balance is so important in order to continue bringing your best self to work.

For me, exercising is a core part of my week and I carve out time in my diary to ensure I do it and am disciplined in making sure I stick to it. I use Peloton for cycling and running which is more time friendly too as I just need to walk outside my house to the garage!

I also have a 4-year-old Cavapoo who gets me out of the house for some fresh air.

There are of course periods in work where there are big deliverables or deadlines and too many meetings to accommodate keeping active. However, this typically always has a detrimental impact on my mental health, energy levels and sleep so can only be temporary before something has got to give and the balance needs to be restored.

I am grateful that I am able to work from home, going into the office once or twice a week with my team and to connect with other colleagues.

I have a fairly lengthy commute into London from Surrey, so I really value and make the most of having the extra time on my WFH days.

How do you strike a healthy work-life balance and juggle conflicting demands on your time and energy?

Working from home and flexible working patterns have undoubtedly made having a work-life balance less of an aspiration and more of a reality for women across the industry.

For me personally, I'm certain that this will be even more important yet difficult to achieve once I return from maternity leave and will have childcare responsibilities to add into the mix.

I'm a huge advocate of flexible working patterns and support this within my team e.g., condensed hours.

Ensuring that the team can meet their work objectives but also be the best person/wife/husband/parent they can be while maintaining good mental health is the formula and it is positive to see that many firms are continuing to support flexible working - it has a huge impact on morale and job satisfaction.

Have you ever suffered with ‘imposter syndrome’??What advice would you give to women who grapple with self-doubt as they’re climbing the career ladder?

I don’t think it ever goes away completely and tends to appear most, at least for me, when doing something that is outside of my comfort zone.

I vividly remember being asked to present at an external industry FC tech conference in front of hundreds people with only a few hours’ notice. Imposter syndrome + not being prepared = ready to combust!

I was so glad I pushed through and did it because it was a great experience.

Outside of your comfort zone there may be lots of feelings of anxiety and some self-doubt, but it is also where there is the most growth. Everyone makes mistakes and needs practice to perfect skills - if you don’t at least try then you’re not going to progress.

I love to see my team proactively identifying and taking on work that we know will challenge them in areas that they want to develop in.

Seeking feedback from people who you’ve worked with when you’ve felt imposter syndrome sneak up is a tool I use too.

This can provide reassurance that yes, you absolutely smashed that presentation or actually, it didn’t quite hit the mark, and these are things to try next time. Then actively seek out opportunities to practice again.

No one likes receiving constructive feedback and it’s a skill in itself learning how to receive it constructively rather than negatively, but it is one of your most valuable assets to boost your confidence!

How important have you found your network to be during your career? How would you advise a junior to start to build a strong professional network?

Building a diverse network is an integral factor in developing your career as fundamentally, progression is dependent upon the relationships you have built.

Often women hear the word networking, and it makes them retreat and avoid at all costs but it doesn’t have to mean standing in a dull room, having awkward small talk and bad wine!

The key advice I have, as someone who used to avoid networking events early in my career, is to know what you want to get out of the event and ideally if there is anyone there you want to speak to, then you can go in with some preparation and plan to help the conversation flow.

You don’t need to jump in speaking about work, build some rapport first by finding something you have in common.

Networking can also just be reaching out to someone for an intro meeting. You may think that you’re not worthy of this senior person’s time, but you’ll find that most of them do enjoy supporting junior colleagues.

There are so many compliance/fin crime conferences available in the market these days, (some of which are free, so no business case needed!) and I find these are a great opportunity to expand your network externally. Go in, be curious, and connect with as many people as you can – LinkedIn is of course great for keeping in touch should you need to in the future.

Have you had any significant mentors throughout your career? How did they contribute to your success as a female leader?

I’ve had some significant female mentors in my career, and they have been integral to my success in internal promotions.

A great example of the value of having a mentor/sponsor was when I was promoted to Director in NatWest – that year I had no intention of putting myself forward onto the annual promotions list. I didn’t feel like I had been in my role at the time for long enough so wouldn’t be credible in my application regardless of my performance (enter imposter syndrome!).

It wasn’t until my mentor recommended that I do put myself forward having looked at my performance and delivery which was a strong business case for promotion. Even if I wasn’t successful that year then she said it would be great experience to go through the process and learn from it to prepare for the following year.

Fast forward 6 months and I was indeed successful, and it wouldn’t have happened without her encouragement and support.

This shows the importance of regularly doing self-reflection on where you are in your career, how you are performing against the competencies for your current and next grade and proactively developing where you identify any gaps that could make your business case stronger.

If you are thinking about taking the next step in your career, think who your ‘sponsors’ would be? If you don’t yet have an answer, map out who these could be and start to build those relationships so they are ready to support you when you need it.

What are your thoughts on the future of FS regulation in the coming years and women’s place at a senior level within it?

Machine learning and Gen AI are the hot topics in the industry throughout 2023 and I expect will continue for some time as firms progress on their journey’s with implementing it.

Further use of automation and using data to make better informed decisions will be key as the cost of compliance across the FS industry far outweighs the criminal proceeds recovered. The advancements in this technology should enable firms to focus more on high-risk investigations instead of dealing with unmanageable volumes of false positives.

The technology industry continues to be lacking in female diversity at senior levels so now is the time more than ever for more women to get involved to strengthen the talent pool of future leaders.

ESG and how this ties in with FC/Compliance is also increasingly on the agenda e.g., to support customers in achieving their net zero carbon targets and ambitions.

You don’t need to be proficient in coding or a climate expert to get involved in these areas. There are so many resources available in the public domain to start to upskill yourself to be aware of how they can impact your particular area or expertise.

Proactively learning skills will give you a baseline knowledge should you wish to pursue opportunities in these areas. For example, in my current role I completed a Climate Change Transformation Programme facilitated by Edinburgh University to ensure I was equipped to support the business with ESG matters. Check out what learning opportunities your firm offers and take advantage!

Do you have any more observations or advice that might help women entering the world of FS regulation today?

Your career toolbox:

• Remember we are all people with unique personalities and interests. One size doesn’t fit all so be authentically you in everything you do.
• If you’re not inspired by either the people you work with or the work you’re doing then look for opportunities to be inspired. There is so much progressive work happening in the industry at the moment, especially in the technology space. The world of regulation and compliance doesn’t have to be boring – find what makes you tick!
• Practice articulating the value you’re adding to what you do, not just explaining what you do. Yes, it’s great that you worked on delivering X piece of work or project but what difference did you make, what outcomes did you drive. This will be a huge asset to you.
• The art of self-promotion – unfortunately your work doesn’t always speak for itself no matter how great it is or how supportive you line manager is. Take responsibility and make sure your key stakeholders know it too.
• Be proactive – don’t wait for someone to raise that point at the meeting or to put you forward for that role on a project. Take charge of your career and it will set you apart from those who don’t.
• Say yes to opportunities that take you out of your comfort zone.