Compendor hires Ed Bouman to lead GDPR compliance solution for banks

Compendor, a consulting and solutions firm specialised in regulatory compliance, has added experienced banker Ed Bouman to its team. Bouman has been tasked with leading the firm’s newly launched GDPR compliance monitoring solution. 

Ed Bouman brings over two decades of banking experience with him to the boutique Frankfurt-based consultancy. He joins from Rabobank, where he worked for thirteen years, most recently as a project manager for two of the bank’s larger compliance programmes: MiFID II (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) and CRS (Common Standard on Reporting and Due Diligence for Financial Account Information; an OECD requirement) and FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act; established by the US). In his first eight years at the Dutch bank, Bouman worked in Rabobank’s legal counsel. 

Earlier in his career, Bouman held roles at ING, Merrill Lynch, operating from the company’s London and Zurich offices, and UBS, where he started his career. “We are delighted to welcome Ed Bouman,” said Elmo Olieslagers, founder of Compendor. Olieslagers established the consultancy early 2016, after having gained ten years of consulting industry experience at consultancies Synechron Business Consulting and Double Effect, a Dutch management consultancy for the financial services that was acquired by Synechron four years ago. The firm specialises in helping banks gain insight in their regulatory landscape and supports them with optimising their risk & compliance operations. 

Olieslagers: “Ed combines his legal and compliance background with pragmatic change experience in the banking industry, which will enable us to enhance our services to both our clients as well as internal teams.”

The new Consultant joined in October, and has in his first months played a key role in developing Compendor’s new RegTech solution for GDPR – last month the Germany-based consultancy was named one of the globe’s 100 most promising RegTech companies. 

With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) around the corner (Enforcement date is 25 May 2018), organisations dealing with data of European citizens/consumers are grappling to prepare their processes and systems to comply with the requirements. With the introduction of the new law, the European Union aims to craft better transparency in support of the rights of individuals, giving them ‘control’ of their personal data and to grow the continent’s digital economy.

Preparing for GDPR however is providing a large number of organisations with a range of challenges. According to a recent survey form RSM among 400 executives and managers across the EU, nine out of ten European businesses are unprepared for GDPR, with 26% of business leaders worryingly concerned that their organisation will not make the May 2018 deadline. 

Compendor’s GDPR solution enables organisations to determine which parts of the legislation are relevant and what priority should be given. Also, the on-line help functionality of the solution assists organisations with better understanding what regulator are expecting from them and provides tips on how they can deal with the requirements and/or mitigate the impacts. 

Related: RegTech as a driver for regulatory and compliance cost reduction.