Aston Lark makes executive board appointment

Aston Lark, a chartered insurance broker backed by Goldman Sachs, has appointed Ian Jacob to the executive leadership team in the newly created role of group chief risk officer, with effect from 13 January 2020.

Jacob joins from a 13-year career at Deloitte where he was a director in the Insurance Regulation and Strategy Team specialising in governance, regulatory strategy and compliance effectiveness. After training in law and qualifying as a barrister in 2006, Jacob joined Deloitte as an audit graduate before transitioning to regulatory consulting.

Jacob is widely recognised as a leading industry expert on governance and regulation, acting as trusted advisor to UK and international insurance groups as well as the FCA and trade associations. He has led numerous skilled persons investigations and governance effectiveness reviews at Deloitte and is regularly invited to speak on UK regulation, most recently addressing a Conduct Risk conference held by Deloitte in Paris.

Jacob was recently seconded as group compliance director at RSA and as head of compliance at AXA PPP Healthcare. He also advised and supported Deloitte’s own board in overseeing four international mergers with other Deloitte member firms. This drew on Jacob’s extensive experience in corporate governance and in M&A from the insurance sector, where he developed Deloitte’s regulatory due diligence methodology and assisted with numerous transactions, including the merger of Aston Lark.

As insurance client money lead, Jacob designed Deloitte’s client money audit approach, represented Deloitte at regular FCA and ICAEW meetings and advised the FCA directly on changes to the client money rules.

Peter Blanc, Group CEO Aston Lark, said: “Our team found Ian to be hugely helpful and his guidance through the regulatory landscape will be invaluable as we continue to grow. Most brokers that we meet talk about the challenges of regulatory compliance and having Ian on board will give them comfort that we can be a partner that truly knows what good looks like.”

Jacob added: “Aston Lark is widely recognised for the momentum it has built since its merger, with integrity and customers at the core of its strategy. The recent investment by Goldman Sachs continues to drive growth and I look forward to working with Peter and the Aston Lark team to develop the risk and compliance functions to meet the needs of the evolving group.

“The regulatory landscape is still changing at an unprecedented rate and Aston Lark must continue to anticipate, adapt and evolve its operations, with a ceaseless focus on good customer outcomes. By maintaining a compliance culture that delivers the best for our customers, regulatory compliance will support sustainable growth rather than restrict it and Aston Lark will continue to be the broker of choice for customers, insurers, employees, affiliates and other brokers that might consider Aston Lark as the ideal home for their business when the time is right.”