CMBYND is pleased to announce that Mark Jesty is joining the firm as a Managing Partner. Mark has served as a member of CMBYND's Advisory Board, helping guide the firm's work across culture, behaviour, transformation, and human performance. In his new role, he will focus on strengthening CMBYND's market presence, deepening client relationships, and supporting the firm's continued growth, with particular emphasis on expanding CMBYND's Culture & Conduct practice. Mark brings de

The arrival of capable AI systems in financial services has triggered a predictable reflex: build the business case around headcount reduction. It is a reflex worth resisting, not because efficiency doesn't matter, but because it optimises for the wrong thing at exactly the wrong moment. Investment management firms that treat AI primarily as a cost lever will achieve a one-time margin improvement that competitors can quickly replicate. Firms that treat AI as a thinking multip

Culture, AI, and the Forces You Don’t Control I’ve been giving considerable thought to the “dance” we are currently in with AI. This, I feel compelled to say, was not written using AI. Let me posit a hypothesis. Strategy sits atop the pyramid when it comes to effective corporate operations. While definitions vary, most strategic thinking follows a consistent pattern: strategy originates at the top of the organisation and becomes the rallying point for focus, resources

In today’s hyper-connected economy, financial institutions are increasingly exposed to a perfect storm of cyber threats, complex tech ecosystems, and systemic interdependencies. Regulators aren't just asking firms to "bounce back" anymore; they are demanding they stay standing during the chaos. Two heavyweight frameworks have emerged to lead this charge: OSFI Guideline E-21 in Canada and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in the European Union. While they share

I wanted to share a perspective that has been forming as we spend more time with AI across our work and with clients. This is not about adoption. Most organisations have already moved past that point. It is about how well we understand and govern what is now being embedded into operations. Across the market, there is a consistent pattern. AI is being deployed broadly, but governance capability is not evolving at the same pace. That gap is beginning to surface as a real struct

Gen AI features in many conversations I have these days, whether in formal meetings or social settings. The questions are rarely technical. They tend to focus on how organisations are using it, when they should, and what makes the difference between activity and advantage. One observation helps explain why activity so often fails to translate into advantage: Gen AI never says “I don’t know”. That is not a flaw. It is a design feature. Understanding what this characteristic en

I have been working in, or with, financial institutions for about 30 years, primarily in Finance and Risk. Through that time and even today, I have observed that when Risk and Finance intentionally collaborate, organisations make better and faster decisions, and with more confidence. There remain opportunities to provide greater value to business through collaboration both operationally, and through data/technology design. This analysis is not intended to challenge curren

2026 is exposing an uncomfortable reality for many organisations. Despite heavy investment, AI adoption has not delivered the transformational impact leaders expected. The issue is not a lack of tools, talent, or ambition. It is that most organisations are solving the problem at the wrong level. AI adoption is not primarily a technology challenge. It is a behavioural one. Yes, AI can drive efficiency by automating routine work. But its real value lies elsewhere. It lies in cr

High-performing organisations are shaped as much by how people work together as by the strategies they pursue. Trust plays a central role in how teams collaborate, how decisions are made, and how organisations perform under pressure. Over the course of my career, one factor has consistently stood out as critical: a genuine culture of trust, not just as a stated value, but as something experienced in everyday interactions and decisions. Trust is not a cultural aspiration. It i

The Hidden Cost of Accumulated Logic in Enterprise Processing Chains In organisations, especially in the financial sector, the integrity of reported numbers is rarely the core issue. The real challenge is understanding how those numbers came to be. Over decades, financial institutions and other complex enterprises have constructed multi-layered processing chains in which data moves from source systems to data management layers, onward to ledgers, and eventually into managemen

Financial services organisations are transforming faster than at any point in recent memory. Customer expectations are shifting. Digital capabilities are advancing. Regulatory pressures keep rising. Boards want efficiency and AI today, not tomorrow. Leaders design ambitious future states because they know the stakes are high. Yet the real struggle is not ambition. It is adoption. Across the sector, the same pattern appears. Transformations are well funded, strategically sound

Over the past few days, I’ve spent time reviewing Australia’s newly released Guidance for AI Adoption: Implementation Practices . What struck me almost immediately is how strongly this framework echoes the long-standing principles that have guided compliance, conduct risk, and operational governance programs around the world. Whether we look to the regulatory traditions of Canada, the United States, the UK, Europe, or Asia-Pacific, the foundations are remarkably consistent:

Over the past year, expectations around climate and sustainability risk have continued to evolve. In Canada, OSFI’s B-15 guideline was introduced as a milestone in how banks and insurers are expected to manage and disclose climate-related risks. It signaled shift, from reporting climate as a standalone issue to embedding it into governance, risk, and business strategy. But in recent months, there’s been a recalibration. Institutions are navigating a moving target: regulatory

This article was co-authored with Matthew Scott , Partner at Crawley MacKewn Brush LLP . We know our clients. We trust our advisors. We don't need bank-level structure. And that’s usually true, until it isn’t. All it takes is one regulator question you can’t answer quickly, one unexpected review, or one gap in supervision that snowballs into a regulatory issue. This doesn’t happen because of bad intent, but because trust and culture don’t scale without systems. The irony? The

CMBYND has long operated at the intersection of transformation, culture, and human behaviour, guiding organisations to achieve meaningful and sustainable change. Our experience has shown that lasting impact requires more than process or structure, it demands a deep understanding of the informal networks, patterns of influence, and shared behaviours that quietly shape culture and performance. For years, these dynamics were viewed as intangible, difficult to define, let alone m

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