Same architecture, right?

We wanted one system for everything. For example, one CRM. Initially, we had three instances of Salesforce and seven instances of Excel spreadsheets running our CRM process. In the end, we had one Salesforce.com across the whole organization. The same applied to marketing. Finance was always quite central but incredibly robust, and HR was unified as well.

Same architecture, right?

When I joined, the organization had what I would describe as an old-school technology function, relatively small and focused on business operations. When I left, it covered data—both what we sold and how we used it in-house—business operations, and importantly, product. I led a move for the whole organization to be product-focused, which at a basic level means having an agile delivery process. If you have a product, you're selling it to Allianz Insurance. You want someone on the business side who owns that product forever, iterates it based on client feedback, and works in partnership with a technology person who is also committed long-term, rather than a project-based approach where changes are made sporadically.

You're captive. I guess my question is, if I'm a bank and I want to get my compliance staff accredited, to build trust with my customers, which is basically what it is, what are the options for accreditation that I have? I guess it's different in the UK and US, different countries. But what options do I have typically? So I can go with ICA. Is that mainly a UK thing or is that global?

In answer to your question, as a company aiming to improve staff compliance, you can approach big companies like the big four consulting organizations, Thomson Reuters, or Ernst & Young. These organizations train people in compliance and provide certification. However, they are not as specialized in financial compliance as ICA.