Senior Business Analyst

When IFRS 17 came into force, SAS Institute had a powerful actuarial and risk calculation engine, but building the accounting layer required a different kind of expertise. Translating the standard into accounting rules, chart of accounts design, and regulatory disclosures demands deep insurance industry knowledge that actuarial and IT profiles alone can't provide. SAS needed to close that gap to deliver strong implementations and compete effectively against specialist IFRS 17 vendors entering the market.

Joining SAS as an IFRS 17 implementation consultant with direct experience from the insurer side, I worked closely with the R&D team to align the accounting and reporting module with IFRS 17 best practices, covering measurement models (GMM, PAA, VFA), accounting rules design, chart of accounts, and disclosure frameworks.

I designed and delivered multiple structured training programmes for 30+ SAS consultants across actuarial, risk and IT profiles. The goal was to build their accounting and IFRS 17 foundations so they could contribute confidently on client engagements.

On the commercial side, I served as the domain expert on more than 7 RFI and RFP responses, helping SAS articulate its accounting and reporting capabilities in the precise technical language that procurement teams and evaluation committees expect, and positioning the platform competitively against rival vendors.

SAS went to market with a recognised, accounting-grade IFRS 17 solution, backed by a consulting team equipped to handle the full range of client questions from actuarial modelling through to financial reporting and disclosures. The implementations I supported spanned major European insurers across Belgium, France and beyond.

With the January 2023 IFRS 17 deadline approaching, a major Belgian insurer hadn't yet mobilised its implementation programme. Day-to-day business priorities had absorbed internal resources, leaving the organisation without a structured plan, a selected vendor, or a cross-functional delivery team. The window to comply on time was narrowing fast.

Brought in as Senior Business Analyst, I worked directly with the CFO office to assess the situation and build a realistic implementation roadmap, one that could absorb the time already lost and still meet the regulatory deadline.

The first priority was vendor selection. I led a structured evaluation of three competing platforms, scoring each against functional fit, implementation risk, and alignment with the insurer's data architecture. Moody's Risk Integrity was selected as the outcome of that process.

In parallel I helped establish the core programme team, bringing together Actuarial, Accounting and IT disciplines that had previously been working in silos, and defined the governance model to keep the programme on track.

On the technical side I led the data mapping and integration work, aligning Moody's Risk Integrity with the insurer's existing data models and source systems. I also acted as the Single Point of Contact between the programme and a leading Big 4 auditor, coordinating the validation of IFRS 17 reports and disclosures to ensure audit readiness from go-live.

Finally I designed the new period-end processes specific to IFRS 17 closures, and delivered training to the insurer's Finance and Actuarial teams on the new standard, the system, and the reporting workflows.

The insurer met the January 2023 IFRS 17 deadline, delivering compliant financial statements, validated disclosures, and a Finance and Actuarial team equipped to run the new reporting cycle independently going forward.

A major bank in the GCC region had selected OneSumX as its core risk reporting and General Ledger platform, covering Basel, IFRS 9, financial consolidation, cost allocation, and regulatory reporting. Mid-implementation, the project landscape shifted considerably: the client was in the process of acquiring a second bank in the region. The two entities ran on different source systems, applied different risk calculation methodologies, and had different product sets. All of which generated a wave of new and modified requirements that the original project scope hadn't anticipated. The challenge was to absorb this complexity without derailing the delivery or substantially exceeding the agreed budget.

Brought in by Wolters Kluwer Financial Services as Senior Functional Consultant, I quickly became the trusted business expert on the project, the go-to person bridging the gap between what the client needed and what OneSumX could deliver.

I led extensive requirements workshops with both banking entities to surface, document and prioritise the new requirements generated by the acquisition. Where gaps existed between the expanded business needs and the platform's standard capabilities, I raised and structured change requests to the WKFS R&D team, translating complex business requirements into precise functional specifications that the development team could act on.

In parallel I handled the technical configuration work directly, correcting and rebuilding calculation rules within OneSumX to align with the merged entity's risk and accounting requirements across Basel, IFRS 9, and the General Ledger modules. This combination of business analysis and active configuration meant issues could be resolved faster without waiting for additional resources.

The core technical objectives were met. The timeline and budget required modest adjustments, and a defined portion of scope was deferred to a subsequent phase, a pragmatic decision that preserved delivery quality and kept the programme moving. OneSumX was successfully established as the unified risk reporting and General Ledger platform for the combined banking entity.

A major European bank identified a substantial gap between its investment products division and the competitive market, spanning product offering, regulatory compliance, and operational processes. A strategic initiative was launched at group level to close these gaps while simultaneously keeping pace with evolving regulatory requirements across MiFID II, ESG and sustainability frameworks. The programme required rigorous coordination across business, IT, regulatory, and executive stakeholders, all while maintaining BAU delivery without disruption.

As Senior Business Analyst, I operated as one of the central coordinators of the transformation programme, reporting directly to the Head of Division and acting as the main point of contact with the Executive Committee.

On the financial side, I owned the budget management process, building forecasting tools to project effort consumption against the SAP annual planning cycle, tracking actuals against forecast, and raising early alerts when consumption trends signalled risk of overrun. This gave the ExCo real-time visibility over a complex multi-workstream programme.

On the regulatory side, I coordinated with the relevant regulatory authority to obtain approvals and validations required to launch new investment products, managing the submission process, tracking outstanding items, and ensuring the division remained compliant throughout.

I also owned the division-wide roadmap, using Agile methodology to sequence gap closure initiatives alongside ongoing regulatory and operational projects. Aligning business and IT teams around a shared delivery plan was a core part of this role. It's harder than it sounds.

The majority of the identified competitive gaps were successfully closed within the programme timeframe. The initiative was subsequently extended, a recognition that the approach and governance model delivered enough value to justify continued investment in the next phase of the transformation.