Harry Shortland

Client: Global Consultancy (Section 166 Skilled Persons Review)

• Supporting a Skilled Person engagement mandated by the FCA to independently assess the financial crime control environment of a regulated UK institution.
• Conducting in-depth QA reviews of KYC/CDD files across personal, corporate, and complex customer types, evaluating documentation standards, risk assessment quality, and alignment with regulatory expectations.
• Producing structured, evidence-based QA assessments and contributing to reporting deliverables shared with the FCA and internal stakeholders.
• Providing advisory input to client teams on file-level findings, process gaps, and risk mitigation strategies, ensuring consistency across the review and alignment with industry best practice.

• Acted as an internal subject matter expert and strategic partner to Shell’s trading business lines, supporting global onboarding and financial crime risk management across high-risk counterparties.
• Led the design and implementation of onboarding enhancements within the CLCM function, including the automation of onboarding workflows and engagement with third-party vendors to integrate external screening tools.
• Managed Shell’s High-Risk Counterparty Committee process, collaborating with Heads of Financial Crime, Compliance, and SVPs to assess escalated counterparties, apply risk-based conditions, and support accountable decision-making.
• Developed Shell’s onboarding training hub, delivering weekly sessions to 100+ analysts and frontline teams, focused on enhanced screening, typology awareness, and regulatory mitigation.
• Served as the key escalation point for analysts and business stakeholders on financial crime concerns, case approvals, sanctions/PEP hits, and quality assurance of onboarding files.
• Created and maintained MI dashboards tracking analyst performance, SLA adherence, and onboarding risk indicators - delivering insights to senior leadership and supporting audit readiness.
• Authored and maintained SOPs, policy guidance, and process documentation across onboarding and KYC procedures, ensuring alignment with Shell Group AML policies and regulatory standards.
• Proactively assessed onboarding risk for new counterparties and business lines, designing bespoke solutions to ensure operational readiness and regulatory compliance.

Clients: FSCOM, Exiger

• Delivered advisory and remediation support to regulated fintech and banking clients across multiple consulting engagements, focusing on EDD uplift, onboarding transformation, and KYC control enhancement.
• Acted as team lead for high-risk file remediation programmes, overseeing end-to-end case reviews, conducting QA, and driving consistency across documentation, risk rating, and approval standards.
• Conducted deep-dive reviews of complex corporate structures, UBO chains, and PEP/adverse media exposure, supporting effective discounting and decision rationales in line with regulatory expectations.
• Reviewed and uplifted client SOPs, onboarding frameworks, and risk scoring methodologies, aligning process design with FCA, FATF, and EBA guidance.
• Handled SAR escalations and DAML referrals, advising clients on internal triage, external reporting, and governance controls.
• Provided hands-on training and mentorship to analyst teams, improving issue identification, documentation standards, and root-cause understanding of KYC/AML risks.

• Delivered cross-border advisory projects across UK, EU, and Nordic markets, supporting financial institutions with regulatory compliance uplift, KYC transformation, and conduct risk remediation.
• Led a regulatory workstream for Danske Bank focused on Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) obligations in Denmark and the Nordics. Conducted legal and regulatory analysis of regional TCF laws, directives, and guidelines, assessed policy and procedural gaps, and redrafted internal policies to ensure alignment with regulatory expectations.
• Collaborated with internal teams across credit risk, onboarding, and customer experience to ensure end-to-end processes supported fair treatment outcomes.
• Designed and implemented KYC remediation strategies for complex client types, including corporates, NBFIs, and correspondent banking relationships.
• Facilitated stakeholder workshops with regulatory, compliance, and legal teams to align project deliverables with supervisory expectations and internal governance standards.
• Developed a scalable SME risk assessment tool adopted by client institutions, expanding Plenitude’s advisory capabilities and supporting efficient onboarding decisions.
• Contributed to business development initiatives and internal knowledge sharing to support firm growth and delivery excellence.

Clients: Santander, Tide Bank, Gulf International Bank, Barclays Wealth & Investments

• Delivered high-volume KYC and onboarding support across multiple banking and fintech clients, covering a range of customer types including corporates, HNWIs, trusts, and correspondent banks.
• Conducted EDD for high-risk clients, assessing adverse media, PEP exposure, complex ownership structures, and cross-border financial activity.
• Performed QA reviews and case audits, providing structured feedback to analyst teams and supporting improvements in risk documentation, justification, and approval quality.
• Refined transaction monitoring typologies and red flag identification to support AML enhancements in areas such as trade-based money laundering, layering, and fraud detection.
• Acted as SME and onboarding lead across projects, delivering analyst training sessions, interpreting regulatory changes, and ensuring adherence to internal and external policy requirements.
• Supported the design and optimisation of onboarding workflows, working with compliance and operations teams to streamline processes and embed effective financial crime controls.

• Supported the onboarding of corporate clients, HNWIs, and offshore entities, conducting initial KYC checks in line with FCA and FATF requirements.
• Carried out preliminary transaction monitoring and risk assessments, flagging unusual activity for review by the Financial Crime team.
• Escalated potential issues including adverse media, sanctions exposure, and PEP status to senior analysts and MLROs for further action.
• Contributed to quality assurance checks on KYC files and gained exposure to regulatory expectations around AML, EDD, and onboarding controls.
• Developed foundational knowledge of due diligence workflows, supporting the compliance team in maintaining up-to-date client records and audit readiness.