Situation
Managing climate-related financial risk was introduced by the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) in 2019. The regulation’s purpose is to ensure financial institutions are embedding climate change into all aspects of their financial and business decision-making, introducing climate stress tests, a climate disclosure operating model and climate change considerations into risk frameworks.
Our client, a tier-one bank, subsequently announced a pledge to reduce its impact on climate change of its financing activity by at least 50% by 2030. It also pledged to double its funding and financing for climate and sustainable finance by 2022. A group-wide programme coordinated all climate change initiatives.
Approach
Valcon ran the mobilisation of this group-wide programme. We created a governance structure to ensure key decisions were made at the right forums, from the working group level through to the bank’s executive committee and followed these decisions through into design and execution.
We worked closely with business stakeholders and change teams to build a robust and realistic plan. To do this we pulled together all project-level plans throughout the group-wide programme, consolidating them in one place.
To ensure the programme’s progress was being accurately measured and reported, Valcon set up regular RAID and milestone management. We also set up an automated process to remove manual intervention and assure the quality and timely delivery of the programme.
Valcon also produced a roadmap of the different regulatory milestones and put in controls to ensure that, as plans changed, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, PRA requirements were still achieved. We used an agile programme management office (PMO) structure, which meant using prioritisation techniques, daily huddles and Kanban boards. This helped us maximise efficiency and rigour in terms of how the programme was controlled and managed.
Results
The bank became compliant with the PRA’s directive on managing climate related financial risk and could confidently demonstrate and track progress against each regulatory requirement.
Cost reduction through the automation of manual PMO activities, allowing the programme to ‘run lean’ and reduce its cost base.
The bank is now able to manage risks from climate change, setting a risk appetite that will future-proof its exposure, from both an operational and a credit risk perspective.
