New broom kicks off STM governance drive

STM Group has taken the first steps to boost its compliance and governance in the wake of a critical report.

Aussie complaints body gets launch date

|

The cross border financial services provider has appointed David Corbin as group internal auditor.

Having worked as a consultant since 2016, Corbin has held senior roles at Hyperion Insurance and Deloitte. His new role encompasses enterprise risk management and data protection.

STM also said the appointments of a chairman and an additional non-executive director were in the final stages. The chairman role is currently being held by Robin Ellison on an interim basis.

In addition, the group’s board told the stock market in the note on Wednesday it was looking for a chief operating officer.

The firm said the additional resources would allow chief executive Alan Kentish, who has steered the business through simultaneous regulatory and police anti-money laundering probes, to focus “more on group strategy”.

Review

Corbin’s appointment is the first step of an action plan agreed with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission following the skilled person report conducted by Deloitte.

The report, which concluded on 11 June, identified six measures STM is required to take:

  • Introduce a more embedded risk framework with better defined risk appetite statements;
  • Appoint additional non-executive directors to the subsidiary boards;
  • Appoint an internal auditor at its life assurance company;
  • Strengthen its Gibraltar compliance plan;
  • Carry out a rolling review of intermediaries and clients with first line and second lines of defence; and,
  • Build a more robust framework for identifying and recording how potential conflicts of interest across the businesses are dealt with.

The report adds a further 21 recommendations.

Management expectations

Despite the regulatory turbulence in Gibraltar, STM acquired a Malta pensions company, shifted its headquarters to the UK  and is now “in line with management expectations for the full year”.

STM told the London Stock Exchange the Harbour Pensions acquisition will be moderately earnings enhancing for the full year and is expected to be fully integrated into STM Malta by the end of August.

MORE ARTICLES ON