KPMG UK names Mary O’Connor chief risk officer

KPMG L.L.P. said Monday that former Willis Towers Watson P.L.C. executive Mary O’Connor has been named to the newly created position of chief risk officer for its U.K. arm.

Ms. O’Connor, who will join the firm at the end of August, will be a member of KPMG’s executive committee and the U.K. board and will oversee the firm’s risk management framework, the London-based firm in a statement.

Based in London, Ms. O’Connor joins KPMG from Willis Towers Watson, where she led client and business development and the global financial institutions industry group. She was one of Business Insurance’s 2017 Women to Watch.

Ms. O’Connor was also a senior regulator in both the U.S. and the U.K., including head of approved persons at the Financial Services Authority.

Bill Michael, KPMG UK chairman, said Ms. O’Connor is “a high-caliber leader in her field,” adding that it is “essential that we continually invest in our risk management processes and procedures and seek fresh insights as to how risks are anticipated and managed.”

Ms. O’Connor comes to KPMG at a difficult time for the firm. In June, the Financial Reporting Council, the U.K.’s and the Republic of Ireland’s independent regulator, criticized the Big Four audit practices for declining audit quality. The council singled out KMPG for “an unacceptable deterioration in quality,” noting that 50% of KPMG’s FTSE 350 audits required more than just limited improvements, compared with 35% in the previous year.

The council said in a June 18 statement that it would increase its scrutiny of KPMG, which includes inspecting 25% more KPMG audits over its 2018-2019 work cycle; and monitoring the implementation of the firm’s audit quality plan.

“KPMG agrees that its efforts in recent years have not been sufficient,” the council said in a statement. “The FRC will hold KPMG’s new leadership to account for the success of their work to improve audit quality.”