OpRisk Advisory beefs up op risk with Lawrence hire

US-based consultancy firm OpRisk Advisory has recruited David Lawrence from Citigroup as a new executive director.

Lawrence previously served as European head of risk methodology and analytics within the risk architecture group at Citigroup. He was responsible for the development of new risk management processes, procedures and systems, which are used by Citigroup to manage market, credit and operational risk.

Lawrence has lectured extensively on financial mathematics and option theory. He has also taught courses for the Financial Stability Institute of the Bank for International Settlements in Basel. OpRisk Advisory said Lawrence would help develop its growing specialism in operational risk.

“David is joining the firm at a critical time for the industry. Last year, most banks were rushing towards meeting minimum compliance standards prescribed by Basel II; now, they are looking for value," said Stéphane Le Blévec, a principal at OpRisk Advisory. "There is an increasing realisation that developing a viable operational risk management programme is a challenging task and that expert advice is not a commodity product.”