Natalie Rhodes

In addition to the responsibilities held as a Compliance Officer:

• Regulatory Compliance - Primary Compliance Advisor for Pokerstars' Belgium licence, providing strategic guidance on new regulations and ensuring alignment across internal teams prior to implementation. Working closely with the commercial function to ensure maximum commercial benefit with limited risk.
• Regulatory Relationship Management – Maintain a proactive relationship with the Belgian regulator and our business-to-business partner, to ensure business readiness for regulatory changes and smooth enforcement transitions.
• Compliance Reporting – Produce key reports in line with requests from the Commercial team to identify risk exposures. Produced a report on Responsible Gambling risk exposures which contributed to the informed market exit decision in Betfair Sweden.

• Compliance Monitoring - Conducted thematic compliance monitoring across Sweden, Denmark, France, Belgium and Greece for Pokerstars and Betfair International brands, to identify key regulatory risk exposures and inform strategic business decisions.
• Stakeholder Engagement – Collaborated with internal stakeholders to discuss regulatory exposures across multiple jurisdictions and promote risk-based decision making. Developed and tracked action plans with stakeholders to address open risks.
• Risk Analysis & Risk Mitigation - Assessed impact and likelihood of identified risks to inform action plans developed with internal stakeholders. Worked with teams to strengthen internal controls following risk assessment.

• Client Relationship Management and Communications - Oversaw Customs and International Trade Tax Compliance for seven international businesses. Fostered and promoted legitimate trade through clear communication, guidance and support to facilitate smooth trade flows.
• Trade Facilitation & Compliance - Conducted Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) reviews at business premises, including audit controls, safety and security, and financial solvency checks. Managed Trade Authorisations including inward processing, Customs warehousing and temporary admission, handling both new approvals and renewals in accordance with regulatory standards.
• Risk Profiling, Analysis & Mitigation - Performed strategic risk profiling to target specific high- risk trade areas. Analysed large datasets of import/export activity through post-clearance audits to identify customs compliance risks. Conducted governance checks and recommended corrective actions. Implemented proactive, upstream risk-reduction measures to strengthen compliance.
• Regional Continuous Improvement Advocate – Drove team and departmental improvement initiatives, enabling colleagues to raise concerns and contribute ideas. Led structured problem-solving sessions to resolve issues and deliver measurable improvements. Presented progress and outcomes at monthly performance meetings.

• Case Management - Responsible for a caseload of 20 offenders, both detained and non-detained. Oversaw public protection considerations in relation to detention, release, and community management. First point of contact for complex case queries and escalations.
• Decision Making - Analysed a wealth of evidence, identified risks and used informed judgement to produce comprehensive written decisions to litigation standard. Worked on intelligence referrals for nationality investigations. Stayed informed on evolving country guidance and policy to ensure decisions were legally robust.
• Stakeholder Engagement - Provided timely and accurate responses to Parliamentary (MP) enquiries. Liaised with internal and external stakeholders, including legal representatives, to progress cases.