Q4 2024 COO Magazine
2025: Challenging the Status Quo
Sustainability | Culture and Conduct | Data Management | Health and Wellbeing
In an era of unprecedented change and volatility, the COO’s role has never been more critical or more complex.
The International COO Community in 2025, led by the Armstrong Wolfe leadership team, alongside leading industry advisors, will guide COOs through an evolving landscape of challenges and opportunities. This edition of the COO Magazine provides an in-depth, forward-looking perspective on the challenges, opportunities, and market dynamics shaping the future of business operations. Our goal is to equip the COO with the insights and strategies needed to lead their organization with confidence, agility, and resilience in the face of tomorrow’s challenges.
Anticipated Challenges & Opportunities for the COO
The COO Mandate for 2025
In conversations with our community, we’ve identified structural shifts transforming business management and redefining the COO role. From enhancing operational efficiency to driving strategic initiatives, 2025 will require COOs to adapt and reinforce their central role in business success.
Our 2025 program will explore:
People and Leadership
- Building Tomorrow’s Leaders: Learn how to develop and implement workforce strategies to ensure your leadership pipeline is future-ready.
- Strategic Foresight in a Complex World: Understand how geopolitical trends impact your business, with insights on translating global shifts into actionable strategies for the banking and financial services sectors.
Meeting the Demands of Operational Resilience
- The Evolution of 1st Line Non-Financial Risk: Gain insights into the expanding role of risk management within core operations.
- Redefining Surveillance: Examine how new technologies and regulatory demands are reshaping surveillance and compliance functions.
- 3LoD Structural and Governance Changes: Explore market demands for changes in governance and the three lines of defence model, examining impacts on operational efficiency and risk management.
- Cyber Risk Management: Discover the COO’s role in defending against cyber threats, aligning strategies with cyber resilience, and managing continuity amidst cyber incidents.
In 2025, the COO will solidify their position as a global manager of non-financial risks and operational resilience. This edition previews the key non-financial risks that will dominate the COO agenda next year and explores how horizon scanning can aid in proactive risk management.
Transformation vs. Change Management
- Transformation vs. Incremental Change: What sets transformation apart from gradual improvements?
Key Areas of Focus
- Regulation: Unpack regulatory adoption components and strategies for embedding sustainable change across your organization.
- AI in Operations: Examine AI’s risks and opportunities, debating whether COOs should embrace or cautiously approach these technologies.
- Technological Horizon Scanning: Prepare for future shifts in technology, such as quantum computing and blockchain, and assess upcoming opportunities and risks.
Performance Management
The Top 5 Non-Financial Risks for COOs in 2025
As the financial landscape shifts, banks face an array of challenges for smooth operations and sustainable growth. The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report identifies key operational risks to monitor:
- Cybersecurity Threats: Protect against cyberattacks that compromise data, disrupt operations, and erode trust. Mitigation requires robust cybersecurity measures, threat detection systems, and continuous monitoring.
- Technological Disruptions: Embracing AI, blockchain, and cloud computing presents opportunities but also operational risks, such as system outages and data integrity issues. Robust IT governance and risk assessments are essential.
- Regulatory Compliance: In a complex regulatory landscape, non-compliance risks financial penalties and reputational damage. A proactive approach to compliance is crucial, with regular regulatory monitoring and enhanced internal controls.
- Talent Management: Attracting skilled professionals for the digital age is critical. Banks must adapt their talent strategies to include emerging tech skills and foster continuous learning to mitigate skill shortages.
- Geopolitical and Economic Uncertainty: Political instability and economic volatility present operational risks. Effective navigation requires geopolitical monitoring, balance sheet stress testing, and scenario planning.
If a member, we look forward to partnering you in 2025, if interested in joining the International COO Community, contact
Maurice Evlyn-Bufton
CEO, Armstrong Wolfe
Q4 2024 Content
AI Technologies Represent a Tremendous Opportunity and Threat in Managing Non-Financial Risks
The Phantom Conference. Sarah Chen sighed as she settled into her chair, preparing for yet another video conference. These calls had become routine for her as a senior financial analyst at Arup’s Hong Kong office, but this one felt different from the start. The urgent message from the UK-based CFO had been marked “confidential.”…
Data Management: Key Challenges for the COO in 2024
This article explores the critical role of accurate, timely data management in asset management firms and other financial services organisations. It highlights the challenges of scaling data systems, ensuring accountability, and adopting golden data sources to improve efficiency. The importance of clear data ownership, effective governance, and the potential role of AI in automating tasks are also discussed.
Restoring Trust in a Fragmented World: The Case for Purpose-Driven Leadership
A roadmap for leaders to align purpose and strategy for long-term trust and value creation. In recent years, news headlines have been littered with scandals across government, media and business. From high-profile cases of financial misconduct, sexual harassment, cover-ups, and bullying, to the controversy of NDAS, shocking stories of the Post Office Horizon and the infected blood scandals…
Effective Regulatory Compliance: Governance and Control Framework
Non-financial risks are becoming increasingly critical as the banking industry evolves, and effective management of these risks is essential for maintaining stability and trust in the financial system. Regulatory compliance is a critical non-financial risk for global banks. There has been a surge of regulatory demand over the years which will continue in the foreseeable future…
3 Ways AI Can Improve Testing for Financial Services IT Projects
How leveraging the newest and most powerful AI tools available can accelerate productivity to levels never previously imagined. “To err is human, but to really foul up requires a computer!” This old saying is just as true today as it was when it was first invented. However, with a proper testing strategy and approach, we can significantly reduce or even eliminate the risk of it becoming a reality…
Introduction to Preventative, Multidimensional Health
In today’s fast-paced world, where instant gratification often takes precedence, the significance of preventative, multidimensional health cannot be overstated. It’s much easier to prevent illness in the first place than to cure disease after it’s taken hold. As we strive for longevity, enhanced energy, increased confidence, and an overall sense of well-being, the pillars of health – sleep, nutrition, and exercise – emerge as crucial elements in our lives…
The Senior Management Function 24 (SMF24) 2024
The specific responsibilities of SMF24 vary significantly depending on the size, structure, complexity, and regulatory classification of the firm, particularly whether it is considered a “core” or “enhanced” firm under the UK’s Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR). Despite these variations, a detailed examination of responses from multiple asset management COOs provides insight…
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