• Compliance is treated more as a checkbox than a core function. Timelines and priorities often feel arbitrary, shifting based on leadership mood or optics rather than actual regulatory need
• Leadership, particularly at the SVP level in Compliance, demonstrates an ego-first approach that prioritizes control over collaboration. Feedback is unwelcome, and valid concerns are routinely dismissed.
• Fundamental risk and compliance concepts are misunderstood by those tasked with enforcing them, and mistakes are met with defensiveness, not accountability.
• Ego outweighs expertise, and those who ask tough questions or raise issues are subtly pushed aside.
• Risk management is reactive and disconnected from day-to-day execution, creating avoidable gaps and inconsistencies.
• Psychological safety is lacking. Employees often operate in fear of saying the wrong thing, even when it’s in the best interest of the Bank.