The Mandate CharterIllustrative specimen · not a live opening
Issued for board review
Group Chief Financial Officer
Listed retail and commercial banking group, $8.4 billion turnover, 18,500 employees across three countries, repairing finance controls under prudential supervision.
Charter01Board issued
The seat, argued in one sentence
Restore financial control and forecast credibility while funding a cost base the board can defend.
The operating context
Why the seat exists now
The group produces $8.4 billion of turnover across three countries, but eleven ledgers and inconsistent product definitions delay a reliable view of earnings. Two annual plans have been missed, and the board has committed to remove $310 million of cost by December 2027. Finance employs 1,140 people through three reporting models. A control remediation programme is funded, yet ownership remains split between finance, operations and technology. The Charter joins reporting repair, performance discipline and capital allocation under one accountable executive.
The gates and scored dimensions
What the evidence must carry
Excluding gateRegulatory Remediation
The control programme is already under supervisory scrutiny; without prior remediation ownership, the finance signatory cannot credibly reset it.
Cost Transformation
25The board has committed to remove $310 million of annual cost without weakening customer controls or frontline service.
Digital Transformation
15Finance data is split across eleven ledgers, so reporting repair depends on technology choices as much as accounting discipline.
PnlUsd
10The leader will sign for a balance sheet and earnings base that cannot be learned through divisional exposure alone.
Controls Reporting
10The audit committee needs recognised authority capable of settling disputed control ownership across the group.
Fpa Forecasting
7Two missed plans have made forecast credibility a board issue rather than a finance-process issue.
Culture Reset
5Three finance teams currently escalate bad news at different speeds, and the new control standard must change that behaviour.
RevenueUsd
5Group turnover spans three regulated businesses, requiring prior command of consolidated performance at multi-billion-dollar scale.
Headcount
5Cost decisions will reach 18,500 employees, so evidence of leading through several management layers matters.
Countries
5The reporting model must reconcile three countries rather than optimise one domestic finance organisation.
Board Stakeholder
5The role must give the board and supervisors the same account of performance, uncertainty and remediation progress.
Listed Company Experience
5Public reporting cadence and investor scrutiny are material, but equivalent regulated disclosure experience can carry credit.
Risk Judgment
3Savings that damage control coverage would transfer cost into conduct and operational risk.
The shape of the career
Who can carry the Charter
You have carried a material cost transformation through a regulated financial institution and can show where savings survived without weakening control coverage. You have also rebuilt finance data or reporting across a fragmented technology estate, and changed the behaviour that determines when bad news reaches the centre. Recent ownership of prudential remediation at no less than $3 billion of scale is a gate: without it, this seat cannot work. Your largest accountable P&L will be at least $1.5 billion, with leadership across 8,000 people and two countries giving you enough organisational range for this group. You bring recognised authority in controls and reporting, plus forecasting discipline strong enough to restore a board's confidence after two missed plans. You can present one account of uncertainty to directors and supervisors, make risk judgments when savings collide with controls, and work through an eighteen-month horizon. Listed-entity exposure is scored, not excluding. Capital-markets fluency is preferred because it will sharpen the funding narrative, although an established treasury team supplies the technical depth.
What is already in place
- A funded eighteen-month control remediation programme
- An agreed $310 million cost baseline by business unit
- A permanent group controller and treasurer
- Board approval to replace the eleven-ledger architecture
The year-one contract
Three outcomes, each with a clock
Close the monthly group result within 6 working days by 30 June 2027.
Deliver $190 million of verified annualised savings by 31 December 2027.
Reduce overdue high-risk finance control actions below 10 by 31 March 2028.
Read this before requesting the Charter
This is not right if…
- You need the cost target to be renegotiated before you will own it.
- You treat control remediation as work for audit rather than a finance operating responsibility.
- You avoid telling the board that a committed saving should not be taken.
The decision process
Six weeks from first conversation to decision
60-minute video meeting
Group Chief Executive90-minute working session
Chair of the Audit Committee and Chief Risk Officer120-minute in-person session
Audit, Risk and Investment Committee representativesIn-person meetings
Chair of the Board and Group Chief ExecutiveWritten feedback will be provided within five working days after every stage, including a decision or next step.