VANQUIS BANKING GROUP
Authority ( PRA ) and the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA ). Procurement plays a critical role in ensuring this compliance , and Steven has always met that responsibility pragmatically .
“ Firstly , we try to address this in our procurement policy to say , look , here ’ s our minimum requirement ,” Steven says . “ We need to ensure that we do this as a minimum because you can ’ t flex what the regulations say . We need to then layer that with a risk appetite to establish what we ’ re comfortable with . Then we need to put that into process so when people want to procure something we ensure we ’ re leading with that policy .”
Then Steven ensures they have regular oversight and internal reviews to ensure compliance with these regulations . If Vanquis Bank wants to expand beyond the boundaries of risk appetite Steven has built up procurement to be prepared to respond , balancing its responsibilities with agility . They ’ ll highlight the risks in a detailed paper to the business or the board , so they can make an informed decision .
“ I ’ ve built the department to be as agile as possible while still being able to be compliant with the regulations ,” Steven says . “ It ’ s essential we can do this and meet the business needs surrounding speed to agility , speed to market and onboarding .” This plays into supplier onboarding , where Steven has helped procurement navigate the tension between speedy decisiveness and correct selection .
“ It ’ s almost an oxymoron in itself because we must find the balance between the business accepting that
94 August 2024