Oonagh van den Berg: Redefining Leadership in Compliance, Financial Crime Prevention, and Regulatory Innovation
Edition: Top 5 Global Compliance & Financial Crime Leaders Shaping the Future of Financial Services – 2026
In today’s increasingly complex financial landscape, leadership is no longer defined solely by the ability to navigate regulations—it is measured by the ability to inspire trust, drive innovation, and create systems that protect businesses, consumers, and economies alike. As financial services continue to evolve through digital transformation, artificial intelligence, fintech innovation, and the rise of digital assets, organizations need leaders who can bridge the gap between regulatory compliance and business growth.
Among those shaping the future of modern compliance is Oonagh van den Berg, an internationally recognized compliance and financial crime expert with more than two decades of experience across banking, fintech, digital assets, and regulatory transformation. As the Founder & CEO of RAW Compliance and Managing Director of Virtual Risk Solutions (VRS), she has built a reputation as one of the industry’s most influential voices in governance, risk management, anti-money laundering, and financial crime prevention.
Throughout her distinguished career, Oonagh has held senior leadership roles with some of the world’s most respected financial institutions, including HSBC, Citi, ING, and Standard Chartered. Her work has spanned more than 180 countries, where she has led large-scale regulatory transformation initiatives, helped organizations strengthen compliance frameworks, and guided businesses through increasingly complex regulatory environments.
What sets Oonagh apart is her commitment to making compliance more accessible, practical, and impactful. Through Virtual Risk Solutions, she focuses on helping organizations implement automated, data-driven compliance frameworks designed for the realities of today’s digital economy. At the same time, through RAW Compliance, she has created a global platform dedicated to providing free compliance education, mentorship, training, and professional development opportunities for individuals across the industry.
A passionate advocate for ethical leadership, financial crime prevention, and technology-enabled compliance, Oonagh is also a respected author, international speaker, and thought leader. Her expertise spans anti-money laundering regulation, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), digital identity frameworks, regulatory technology, and the future role of artificial intelligence in compliance education and risk management.
As financial institutions face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, Oonagh van den Berg continues to champion a vision where compliance is not viewed as a barrier to innovation, but as a strategic enabler of trust, resilience, and sustainable growth. Through her leadership, she is helping redefine how organizations approach risk, regulation, and responsibility in an increasingly connected world.
We are proud to welcome Oonagh van den Berg to this special edition, recognizing her exceptional contributions to compliance leadership, financial crime prevention, and the future of regulatory innovation.
Please Share the Beginning of Your Career Journey With Us.
My career journey began in law, where I completed a traineeship with the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. What initially attracted me to the field was an interest in regulation, but over time that curiosity evolved into a deeper passion for understanding how organizations manage risk, protect customers, and build trust within increasingly complex financial systems.
Over the past two decades, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s leading financial institutions, including HSBC, Citi, Standard Chartered, and Schroders, before expanding my focus into the fintech and digital assets sectors. Throughout this journey, I gained experience across a broad range of disciplines, including regulatory approvals, governance, financial crime prevention, internal audit, remediation programs, product development, and large-scale transformation initiatives.
One of the most defining moments in my career came when I stepped into my first Money Laundering Reporting Officer (MLRO) role. Like many professionals taking on a senior regulated position for the first time, I quickly discovered that accountability feels very different when your name is attached to the regulatory responsibility.
One of my earliest challenges involved rebuilding and strengthening a compliance function while simultaneously recruiting talent and engaging external consultants. During that process, I observed a recurring issue within parts of the consultancy industry. Organizations often believed they were purchasing senior expertise, only to discover that the individuals assigned to critical projects lacked the practical experience necessary to deliver meaningful results. It exposed a significant gap between perceived expertise and real-world capability, particularly during periods when businesses were most vulnerable and dependent on external support.
An even more important lesson emerged from that experience. Despite years of education, certifications, training, and professional development, I realized that nothing truly prepares you for the reality of personal accountability. There is a profound difference between understanding regulations in theory and being personally responsible for making decisions under regulatory scrutiny. No qualification can fully teach the judgement, confidence, and resilience required when accountability becomes real.
That realization became a turning point in my career and ultimately shaped the direction of my future work. It inspired me to create practical training programs, professional certifications, mentoring initiatives, and eventually the Modernising Compliance™ book series. My goal was to bridge the gap between theory and practice by providing compliance professionals with the guidance, confidence, and practical skills I wished I had when I first entered a senior regulated role.
Today, that mission remains unchanged. I am passionate about helping compliance professionals move beyond technical knowledge and develop the real-world judgement, leadership capabilities, and decision-making skills needed to thrive in increasingly complex regulatory environments.
What started as a desire to help others avoid the challenges I experienced has evolved into a global mission to make compliance education more accessible, practical, and impactful for the next generation of leaders.
Could You Highlight the Key Offerings?
My work is built around three interconnected organizations—Modernising Compliance™, Virtual Risk Solutions (VRS), and RAW Compliance—which together form a comprehensive ecosystem designed to help organizations and professionals navigate an increasingly complex regulatory and risk landscape.
At the heart of this ecosystem is Modernising Compliance™, our thought leadership, publishing, and research platform focused on transforming how businesses approach governance, risk management, compliance, financial crime prevention, and AI governance. Through specialist books, practitioner guides, industry research, regulatory analysis, executive education, keynote presentations, and compliance effectiveness frameworks, we help organizations move beyond theoretical compliance and focus on measurable outcomes. The goal is simple: to shift organizations from policy to practice, from activity to effectiveness, and from compliance theatre to demonstrable results.
Through Virtual Risk Solutions (VRS), we provide global Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) advisory services designed to help organizations build scalable, defensible, and regulator-ready frameworks. Our work spans regulatory strategy, anti-money laundering (AML), sanctions and fraud frameworks, enterprise-wide risk assessments, governance and operating model design, AI governance, model risk management, regulatory remediation programs, licensing support, and independent framework reviews.
We also provide specialist compliance resources and staff augmentation services for organizations navigating periods of growth, transformation, or regulatory scrutiny. Our philosophy is straightforward: regulators supervise outcomes, not intentions, and organizations need practical frameworks that can withstand both regulatory examination and commercial realities.
The third pillar of our ecosystem is RAW Compliance, a social enterprise dedicated to making compliance education more accessible, practical, and impactful. Through professional certifications, training programs, corporate learning solutions, learning management systems, mentoring initiatives, webinars, and global community engagement, we support compliance professionals at every stage of their careers.
RAW Compliance was founded on the belief that access to quality education should never be limited by geography, budget, or employer sponsorship. Today, we support individuals ranging from those entering the profession for the first time to experienced practitioners preparing for executive leadership roles.
While each organization serves a distinct purpose, they all share a common mission: modernizing compliance through the combination of practical industry experience, strategic advisory expertise, and accessible education. Through thought leadership, we challenge conventional thinking. Through advisory services, we help organizations strengthen governance and risk frameworks. Through education, we equip the next generation of compliance leaders with the skills, confidence, and judgement required to succeed.
Ultimately, our objective is not simply to help organizations comply with regulations. It is to help them build trust, demonstrate effectiveness, strengthen resilience, and create sustainable businesses capable of thriving in an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving world.
What Are Your Long-Term Goals, and Where Do You Envision Yourself in the Coming Years?
My long-term ambition has never been to build the biggest compliance company. It has always been to build the most impactful one.
Throughout my career, I have been passionate about changing how compliance is perceived. Too often, compliance is viewed as a function that slows innovation or creates obstacles for businesses. I believe the opposite is true. When implemented effectively, compliance should enable sustainable growth, strengthen trust, support better decision-making, and help organizations build resilience in an increasingly complex world.
Looking ahead, I see myself continuing to influence how organizations measure compliance effectiveness rather than simply compliance activity. Success should not be measured by the number of policies written or training sessions completed, but by whether organizations can demonstrate meaningful outcomes, stronger governance, and better risk management practices.
In the coming years, I plan to continue driving innovation in AI-enabled governance, risk management, and financial crime prevention. I am also committed to expanding my thought leadership work through additional books, research publications, and industry initiatives that challenge conventional thinking and encourage more practical approaches to compliance.
Another important priority is increasing access to affordable, high-quality compliance education globally. Through my work with RAW Compliance and the broader ecosystem we have built, I want to ensure that professionals around the world have access to the knowledge, training, mentoring, and opportunities they need to succeed, regardless of geography, budget, or background.
Equally important is supporting the next generation of compliance leaders. One of the most rewarding aspects of my work is helping professionals develop the confidence, judgement, and leadership skills required to navigate increasingly complex regulatory environments and take on positions of accountability.
Ultimately, the legacy I hope to leave behind is not defined by the companies I have built, but by the impact I have had on the profession itself. I want compliance to be more accessible, more respected, more effective, and better prepared for the future.
If ten years from now someone tells me they entered the compliance profession because of something I wrote, taught, mentored, or built—or that my work fundamentally changed the way they approach compliance and risk management—I would consider that one of my greatest achievements.
Who Has Been the Most Significant Source of Inspiration in Your Life?
Without hesitation, the most significant source of inspiration in my life has been my mother.
Long before she became the CEO of one of the largest charities in the United Kingdom and an internationally bestselling author, she was the person who taught me what resilience, determination, and purpose truly look like. Her life story demonstrated that circumstances do not define potential, and that success is often built through courage, perseverance, and an unwavering belief in what is possible.
My mother grew up in a disadvantaged Catholic community in Belfast during one of the most challenging periods in Northern Ireland’s history. Opportunities were limited, and ambition was often viewed with skepticism. Yet she refused to allow the environment she was born into to determine the future she would create for herself.
She built a successful career while raising a family, travelling extensively for work, and supporting my father, a police officer serving during the difficult years of The Troubles. As a Catholic woman married to a Protestant man, she also faced personal and societal challenges that extended far beyond her professional life. Looking back, I now realise the extraordinary courage, resilience, and strength that journey required.
Among the many lessons she taught me, two have remained with me throughout my life and continue to influence how I lead and mentor others.
The first was: “We all come into the world the same. We all go out the same. What matters is what you do with the time in between.”
The second was: “Being a woman is your greatest asset. Never hide it and never feel you need to become someone else to succeed. Lean into it.”
Those words gave me the confidence to pursue my ambitions without apology and taught me that authenticity is not a weakness—it is one of the greatest strengths a leader can possess. They shaped how I approach leadership, how I support others, and how I have navigated every stage of my career.
Today, I draw inspiration from another equally important role in my life—being a mother myself.
My daughters inspire me every day. They remind me why courage, resilience, integrity, and purpose matter. They challenge me to grow, keep me grounded, and continually reinforce the importance of creating a meaningful legacy. While I am proud of everything I have achieved professionally, my greatest achievement will always be my children.
Watching them grow into confident, capable young women is one of the greatest privileges of my life. They continue to inspire me to lead with purpose, create opportunities for others, and leave behind something meaningful for the next generation.
Please List Some of the Notable Recognitions and Accreditations That You and Your Organization Have Received.
To be completely honest, my goal has never been to collect awards. My focus has always been on creating a meaningful and lasting impact. While formal recognition is always appreciated, the achievements that mean the most to me rarely come in the form of trophies or titles. Instead, they come through the people and organizations we have been able to help along the way.
The moments I value most are hearing from a compliance professional who tells me that one of my books helped them navigate their first MLRO role, a practitioner who secured a promotion after completing one of our training programs, or an organization that successfully achieved regulatory approval after implementing a framework we helped design. Equally rewarding are the teams that enter a regulatory inspection feeling confident, prepared, and able to demonstrate genuine effectiveness rather than simply ticking compliance boxes. Those are the outcomes that truly matter.
That said, throughout my career I have been fortunate to receive a number of professional recognitions. I am proud to be recognized as a Top LinkedIn Voice and was honored as the UK Young Compliance Officer of the Year in 2007. I am also the author of the internationally recognized Modernising Compliance™ book series, along with multiple specialist publications focused on compliance, governance, financial crime prevention, and regulatory transformation. Over the years, I have become known as an international compliance and financial crime specialist, regularly speaking at global conferences, regulatory forums, and industry events. I have also been recognized for my ongoing commitment to making compliance education and professional development more accessible to individuals around the world.
From an organizational perspective, both Virtual Risk Solutions (VRS) and RAW Compliance have achieved milestones that reflect our mission of transforming compliance through innovation, education, and practical expertise.
Through Virtual Risk Solutions (VRS), we have supported some of the industry’s most complex regulatory and transformation initiatives, including helping facilitate one of the first Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licenses in the United Kingdom for a global cryptocurrency exchange. The organization has become a trusted advisory partner to regulated financial institutions, fintech firms, and digital asset businesses, helping them navigate evolving regulatory expectations, governance challenges, and financial crime risks.
Through RAW Compliance, we have built one of the industry’s most accessible compliance education initiatives. To date, we have supported and trained more than 17,000 compliance professionals globally, with much of that education provided free of charge. Our learning content is now available in more than 26 languages, helping remove barriers to professional development for individuals across different regions and backgrounds. We have also established globally recognized specialist certification programs designed to equip compliance professionals with practical skills and real-world knowledge.
Ultimately, while awards and recognitions are appreciated, the greatest measure of success for me will always be the positive impact we create. If something I have written, taught, built, or advised on has helped an individual grow in their career or enabled an organization to navigate a complex challenge more effectively, that will always be the recognition I value most.
What Were the Most Challenging Obstacles You’ve Encountered in Your Career?
The greatest challenges I have faced throughout my career were never technical—they were human.
Working across highly regulated industries, I have often encountered resistance to change, deeply entrenched legacy thinking, organizational silos, and cultures where fear-driven decision-making can limit innovation and progress. One of the ongoing challenges has been helping organizations embrace new ways of thinking while balancing the realities of regulatory expectations, operational demands, and risk management requirements.
Throughout my career, I have consistently advocated for a more effective and practical approach to compliance—one that enables innovation rather than restricts it. However, changing mindsets is often far more difficult than changing processes. Convincing people that innovation and regulation can coexist requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to challenge long-standing assumptions.
On a personal level, building businesses from the ground up while raising three children has also been one of the most demanding aspects of my journey. Like many entrepreneurs, I have experienced setbacks, disappointments, failed initiatives, difficult decisions, and moments when the easier option would have been to walk away.
Yet those experiences taught me one of the most important lessons of my career: resilience is not built when things are going well—it is built when they are not.
Every challenge, whether professional or personal, has strengthened my belief that compliance can be better, education can be more accessible, and organizations can create environments where innovation and regulation work together rather than compete against one another.
Looking back, I realize that the obstacles themselves were never the defining part of the journey. Instead, they became the experiences that shaped my perspective, strengthened my resilience, and reinforced my commitment to creating positive change within the compliance profession.
The challenges influenced the path, but they never determined the destination.
