KEVIN WILFORD:

Senior Associate - Corporate & Financial Strategy

Kevin Wilford has an extensive range and depth of knowledge within the financial area. He has a proven track record of understanding issues and the ability to deliver and implement enduring, strategic solutions at director level.

Kevin was educated in the United Kingdom and assumed his first role within the Financial Services sector in 1972. His career was fashioned at Citibank where he fulfilled a number of roles within the Operations, Finance and Credit & Risk functions. He was primarily responsible for putting in place the first budget and forecast process for the Consumer Services group within the UK, as well as introducing product profitability. This facilitated improved structured business decisions.

In 1987 Kevin joined the Diners Club operation in the UK (a subsidiary of Citibank) as Finance Director, where he played a lead role in shaping the future strategy of the business.

Two years later Kevin was offered the opportunity to establish the Consumer Credit arm of a UK Building Society, as Business Director. This included the launch of a new credit card product, which achieved card numbers in excess of 400,000 after 3 years, significantly ahead of budget. This success also yielded 200,000 new customers to the organisation, a key strategic objective.

In 1992 Diners Club Europe invited Kevin back as European Financial Controller based in Brussels. With a commitment to invest, the objective was to agree a sustainable strategy for the future of the charge card business. This position also involved consolidating the European franchises and implementing a common and consistent reporting package. These latter objectives were successfully achieved.

Three years later, Kevin established his own business consultancy partnership working with other banks to clearly define strategy and implement their key business initiatives. This involved product diversification and client segmentation as well as ascertaining client behaviour. The most significant assignment was an 18-month global consumer research study for Citibank to measure customer reaction and feedback versus their target banked population. This involved travelling to those countries involved in the study and presenting the findings to the various businesses. Out of the study came a clearer focus on product, service and distribution strategies for the Citibank franchises worldwide.

In 1999 Kevin was selected by Barclays Private Bank to undertake a nine-month interim management assignment to fulfill the roles of both Finance Director and Offshore Islands Director. This assignment enabled Kevin to bring some objectivity to these positions as well as play a role in implementing the future strategy for the Private Banking arm.

Kevin was then invited to manage the bank’s Private Banking business in the Cayman Islands, primarily with the aim of stabilising the operation as well as implementing the agreed offshore islands strategy. Having successfully completed this assignment in third quarter 2000, he was then invited to undertake a similar role as interim CEO for Barclays Private Banking operations in Jersey, where he spent five years in the role.