AI-Enabled Risk & Controls Execution Partner

Twenty-five years inside five systemic banks. I built the risk and controls frameworks AI agents are now positioned to run.

I am Kelechi Onukogu, founder of Actko Consulting. Across twenty-five years at Wells Fargo, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and NatWest, I led the enterprise transformation, governance and risk and controls functions that banks are now looking to automate. We help you identify which of that work an AI agent can run safely, and I stay the named, accountable executive overseeing it while it does.

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Why Now

The risk and controls model most banks run today was built for a different era.

It is still driven by regulatory response rather than capability, still rife with manual processes, and still run by thousands of staff doing repeatable, rule-based work by hand. No robust framework yet exists for what should be automated, governed or owned.

30 TO 40%

Potential reduction in bank costs from AI agents by 2030, according to BCG research.

30%

Potential lift in bank profitability from AI agents by 2030, on the same research.

57%

Of banking executives expect AI to be embedded in risk and compliance within three years. Governance has not kept pace.

US$45.7BN

Paid by banks and financial institutions in major AML and sanctions fines since 2000, when controls and processes fail, according to Financial Crime News.

The Ownership Gap Regulatory and operational complexity is the problem. AI efficiency is the solution. But right now, most banks' ability to apply AI in risk and controls is still immature, and at its infancy.

Why Me

I built the frameworks banks are now trying to automate.

At Barclays, I cut the bank-wide controls library from 40,000 to 16,000 and linked it to processes and risks, enabling a more dynamic Risk and Controls Self Assessment (RCSA) and the identification of controls for automation. At NatWest, I designed and executed the Bank-wide Process taxonomy that is now live and being embedded. Across twenty-five years at Wells Fargo, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and NatWest, I ran the risk, controls and transformation functions banks are now handing to AI agents. I did not learn this from outside. I built it.

Throughout my career, I have partnered with Boards, Chief Executives and regulators to transform organisational capability, strengthen governance and build high performing teams capable of delivering sustainable change. My expertise spans enterprise transformation, operational resilience, governance, non-financial risk, technology enabled controls, organisational design and strategic execution.

As Chief Controls Officer, I have built organisations across Europe and Asia Pacific, with alignment to global teams in North America, while advising Boards on matters of governance, culture and regulatory confidence.

Enterprise Transformation Governance & Non-Financial Risk Operational Resilience Technology-Enabled Controls Organisational Design

Recognition. Empower Top 100 Executive Role Model. Executive Sponsor, Race at Work, Barclays and Wells Fargo.

"Leadership is not about controlling risk. It is about creating organisations that people trust. Sustainable performance comes from combining disciplined governance with empowered people, clear accountability and purposeful leadership. The strongest organisations are not those with the most controls, they are the ones where culture, governance and execution reinforce one another." KELECHI ONUKOGU

What No One Else Can Sell Technology vendors sell software. The Big Four sell scale. Neither can sell what this is: twenty-five years of named, senior accountability for risk and controls, built inside five systemic banks, not advised from outside them.

Kelechi Onukogu
Founder, Actko Consulting Ltd
LinkedIn

What We Do

Services

Four services, each tied to a specific stage of moving repeatable operations from manual, fragmented work to a governed, AI-enabled one.

Operating Model Diagnostic

A focused assessment of your operation to identify which processes are repeatable, homogeneous and performed by large teams, and therefore ready for an AI agent, and which fragmented controls should be centralised first.

AI Agent Deployment Advisory

A narrowly scoped, defensible business case for deploying AI agents against the work identified in the diagnostic, with clear accountability at every step.

Executive Governance Dashboard

A Red, Amber, Green reporting framework for senior executives, refreshed daily, weekly or monthly, with the ability to drill down to root cause.

Board and Executive Advisory

Ongoing advisory support as the senior, accountable human in the loop as AI agents are deployed across your operation.

Who This Is For

Who we help

Chief Risk Officers, Heads of Compliance, Chief Controls Officers, Chief Operating Officers and transformation leads at banks and financial institutions who want to simplify repeatable, high headcount operations without losing control or accountability.

How We Work

Rationalise, Automate, Govern

A framework for identifying which parts of a bank's operation are repeatable, homogeneous and performed by hundreds of staff, and therefore ready for an AI agent, versus what needs centralising first.

01 · RATIONALISE

Map the operating landscape to find fragmented, inconsistent controls and processes that should be centralised before anything is automated.

02 · AUTOMATE

Deploy AI agents against the repeatable, high headcount work, such as transaction processing, document review, alert triage and exceptions, with a narrowly scoped business case.

03 · GOVERN

A Red, Amber, Green dashboard for senior executives, drillable to root cause, with a human accountable for every high risk decision.

The Human In The Loop Twenty-five years of doing this across multiple institutions, in the absence of AI, means I know where the real risk sits. We work alongside your team, with me as the named, accountable senior adviser, while AI agents execute.

Selected Experience

Track record and illustrative work

What I delivered in my own executive career, alongside one illustration of how Actko Consulting's diagnostic applies in practice.

Selected Experience as an Executive

Delivered in my own executive roles across Wells Fargo, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan and NatWest.

Enterprise Transformation Programme

Led a multi-year transformation of operational and risk and controls functions across a global banking group, centralising fragmented controls across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Non-Financial Risk Governance Framework

Redesigned a non-financial risk governance framework for a major bank, strengthening Board level reporting and regulatory confidence.

Illustrative Engagement

Specific client names are kept confidential. The following is a generic illustration of the type of work Actko Consulting would deliver, not a completed engagement.

KYC and AML Operating Model Diagnostic

An illustration of how the Operating Model Diagnostic applies to a bank's KYC and AML function: identifying which repeatable work is suited to AI agents, working alongside the bank's in-house digital and technology team, and producing a Board-ready governance dashboard.