"Capco allows you to design your own career progression and personal adventure."

Joined Capco: 2015
Role:         Senior Consultant, Risk, Regulatory & Compliance
Primary skills: Financial Crime, Compliance, AML, Operations Transformation
Interests: Traveling, flower styling, cooking

I was born and raised in Beijing until the age of 18, and then moved to Hong Kong for my university studies. I stayed there for the next 10 years before transferring to the UK in March 2019 to join the London Capco office. I guess there is a bit of contrast in my personality –while I am slightly indecisive when faced with small choices, when it comes to bigger decisions, like a relocation, I can be quite adventurous, and seldom have any regrets. I draw my biggest inspiration from my mother, who is a professional woman with a successful career. When she was young, she had to give up a chance of studying and working abroad to take better care of me. Knowing that gives me more drive to take the big leaps in life.

July 2020 marked my fifth anniversary with Capco. I interviewed for a role shortly after the firm’s Hong Kong office was established, and my first impression was of a very young, international and open organization with an extremely horizontal structure. This first impression proved very accurate and consistent right across the company; at Capco, you are free to reach out to anybody from any level within the firm. You are respected for the person you are, not just on your employee grade.

This culture allows everyone to benefit from working closely with colleagues from senior levels or different domains within the organization. Our London office is a perfect hub for our dynamic, innovative, and diverse community. It promotes productivity and creativity through providing a comfortable, flexible, and friendly environment. While I am a non-native speaker of both English and Cantonese, and come from a different cultural background from most of my colleagues, I have never felt ‘left out’ of the Capco community or treated differently because of this.

I started as an Associate/Compliance Specialist without too much thought about the next five years of my career. However, the mentoring and resourcing scheme at Capco encourages you to take on responsibilities at the next level and grants opportunities for those who seek new challenges. Which is how today I find myself a Senior Consultant within the Financial Crime Compliance team.

Working for Capco is especially beneficial if you are the 2015 version of me: not sure about which direction to dive but desiring endless possibilities. Capco offers a multiplicity of roles across different domains and functions, working with different clients and talent groups in different continents. This allows you to design your own career progression and personal adventure.

While some client programs may run for longer periods, Capco encourages you to rotate every 12 to 18 months to gain exposure to new experiences and so enhance your personal development. In comparison to some corporates, where junior resources can just be viewed as ‘bricks in the wall’, Capco tries to find everyone’s perfect fit based on their individual skills, career goals and personalities. This approach has enriched my CV; I have been a financial crime investigator, a team leader of compliance officers, a system transformation business analyst for a client call center servicing 80 million calls a year and a finance transformation analyst at a regional COO office.

In 2019 I worked on a global deployment program, which was my first project in the UK. Our team of seven were tasked with an ambitious goal of lifting the productivity and quality of the client’s compliance operation centers across more than 30 markets and involving over 2000 employees. I was responsible for the deployment across nine APAC markets/entities, and spent months travelling back to Asia. My experience in the regional retail banking market, my language skills and intimate knowledge of the cultures made a real difference. They were key factors in the timely delivery of above-expectation KPIs in those countries, which translated into a significant cost saving – but teamwork was also a vital component to our success.

When I’m in London I try to go to hot yoga sessions regularly, but given the way 2020 has gone so far, I’ve been spending a lot of time decorating my apartment and cooking. Despite the difficulties of COVID-19, this time has provided a good window for reflection on ourselves and our lifestyles. With daily commuting and rigid office hours out of the picture for now, it’s been valuable to think about the nature of work and how we arrange our time, and how that translates into new priorities and our real goals in life.

During the pandemic, Capco has been very dedicated to preserving bonds and caring for its employees even more than before. I do miss participating in the in-person initiatives, which has always been such an important part of the Capco culture. I’ve personally hosted and facilitated numerous events, from Christmas parties to wine & cheese evenings.

More recently, as part of a cross-account Leadership Development Program 2020, I hosted workshops and training on how to manage your energy to be a high performing leader and to achieve balance. I’ve also previously supported our International Women’s Day Forum two years ago, where we invited female panel speakers to discuss their experiences for a successful career and personal life. These types of activities allow me to connect with the community, benefit from it, and also give back.