Ian Watson
Biography
Ian Watson heads Celent’s global Risk practice and is based in Boston. Ian joined Celent after 20 years in the Technology Industry and consulting to Banking and Insurance clients.
With Risk undergoing an enormous amount of change, it is paramount that Financial Institutions shift from traditional approaches to risk management to more robust operational resilience. Ian has a keen interest in how GRC technology builds cross-unit, holistic views of enterprise risk. Ian’s research also covers risk specific to banking and the efficiencies of 3rd party risk assessment.
Prior to Celent, Ian led strategy globally for IBM Consulting and IBM Sales. Most recently, Ian helped transform IBM’s Global Sales processes and organization. He also designed the strategy for IBM’s entry into the RegTech market, and helped launch the Truata anonymization utility to help European customers reduce model risk and comply with GDPR.
During his consulting career, Ian led the development of IBM's global microfinance offering that brought variable-cost, best-in-class business processes to Microfinance Institutions. Ian started his career in IBM’s Institute for Business Value, publishing research on how technology is changing the Financial Services industry.
Ian has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Columbia College. He worked for Merrill Lynch and Glencore prior to getting his MBA.
Latest insights
-
7 November 2024
Recorded on November 7, 2024. 2025 is shaping up to be a transformative year for risk and compliance with the global surge in fraud, intensifyin… -
6 November 2024
Celent's Risk and Compliance priorities for 2025 examine impactful technology and regulatory trends within the domains of anti-financial crime,… -
19 July 2024
I recently attended an executive roundtable of the heads of AML, Sanctions and Screening programs for some prominent global banks and fintechs.… -
17 July 2024
Risk management technology spending is accelerating worldwide, driven by a combination of regulatory change, technological development, and macr…
Related events
-
6 - 21 November 2024
Navigating the Future: Integrating AI and Data Governance for A Resilient Financial Services Industry As the excitement around generative AI set… -
18 September 2024
New York, NY, United StatesReady, Set, Go: Accelerate Your GenAI Roadmap Generative AI remains a provocative topic among financial institutions. As the regulatory environm… -
7 - 23 May 2024
In today's rapidly evolving landscape, it has never been more crucial to maximize the value of your technology spending. Our research, based on… -
21 March 2024
AI: The Race is On - Accelerate to a Competitive Advantage with AI Virtual Event - March 21, 2024 Join us as we reflect on the advancements of A…
Related news
-
7 July 2024
By Ian Watson, Head of Risk Risk executives are scrambling to understand the myriad risks of putting genAI technology into production, and just…
-
3 February 2023
Boston, MA – February 3, 2023 – Celent, a leading research and advisory firm focused on technology for financial institutions globally, is pleas…