Paul Harknett Expert Spotlight - Sept 2026
Meet Camelot Expert: Paul Harknett
With more than 30 years of experience leading complex transformation programmes across financial services, Paul Harknett brings a rare combination of strategic leadership, regulatory expertise, and hands-on delivery excellence to The Camelot Network.
As Paul explains, Camelot provides a unique opportunity to collaborate with fellow experts across sectors:
"Camelot provides a unique 'collision space' for seasoned experts to share genuine war stories. It allows me to test my thinking against peers and stay at the absolute cutting edge of how different sectors are tackling the same systemic challenges."
We sat down with Paul to learn more about his company, Time for Plan B, as well as his experience, approach and ambitions.
What is your role now since leaving corporate life?
I am an "Operational Architect" and Strategic Transformation Leader. I help C-suite boards at Tier-1 financial institutions and high-growth FinTechs bridge the gap between strategic vision and executable delivery, turning complex regulatory and technology mandates into measurable business value.
Area of expertise
Change, Portfolio & Programme Delivery that drives business value & measurable objectives connecting the organisation across business & technology to achieve success.
Highest/proudest most recognisable previous role
COO/CTO Software Company & Consultancy experience in both the US & EMEA that established EMEA delivery & product operating capabilities that delivered a 300% increase in revenues for end-to-end STP, Trade Settlement & Payment solutions. Grew US business from Sales, through delivery & support driving US revenue & profit by approximately 400%.
Other highlights would include:
Delivered c.£200m in quarterly Risk Weighted Asset savings for Barclays via a global reference data restructure spanning the investment bank, wholesale bank and wealth business.
Drove cost efficiency of c.£61m via a 16-week rapid turnaround of the Lloyd's of London market charges programme, delivering a Workday-based solution.
Remediated a c.£225m regulatory portfolio at NatWest addressing S166 COREP findings and the PRA's "Dear CEO" requirements.
Delivered c.£20m in annual processing savings at NatWest through a cloud-based Making Tax Digital solution, alongside a c.30% reduction in third-party contract costs.
Owned a multi-year c.£260m regulatory compliance programme across nine Risk & Finance functions and 17 global legal entities at HSBC, avoiding regulatory fines.
Protected c.£780m per annum of issuing and acquiring revenue at Barclaycard, delivering work-streams of the £15m+ Mercury programme against MasterCard and Visa mandates.
Please can you provide some examples of recent projects/professional high points that you've worked on?
Career Highlights include:
Led major Risk, Finance, Data and Regulatory transformation programmes for organisations including Lloyd's of London, Barclays, NatWest, HSBC, Credit Suisse Group and JPMorgan.
Deep regulatory expertise, operating directly with PRA and senior regulatory stakeholders.
Led finance change at Lloyd's of London, including Workday implementation delivering £61m market savings in 16 weeks and supporting settlement flows representing 9% of UK GDP.
Delivered large-scale portfolios up to £260m, managing 150+ direct and 200+ indirect global resources across business, data and technology.
Achieved £200m quarterly RWA savings at Barclays through global market reference data transformation.
Currently Leading the deliver of a SaaS Data & AI service driving Finance processing improvements.
Delivered £20m annual savings at NatWest via cloud-based tax and regulatory processing SaaS solutions, including third-party contract renegotiation (c.30% cost reduction).
Extensive payments, data and transaction processing expertise overseeing up to £340bn per day processing.
Strong commercial and P&L ownership, with a proven track record of increasing revenue and profit.
COO/CTO Software Company & Consultancy experience in both the US & EMEA that established EMEA delivery & product operating capabilities that delivered a 300% increase in revenues for end-to-end STP, Trade Settlement & Payment solutions. Grew US business from Sales, through delivery & support driving US revenue & profit by approximately 400%.
Pragmatic, C-suite facing leader who builds trusted partnerships across business, data and technology and third parties to de-risk delivery and ensure measurable financial and regulatory outcomes.
What is your unique selling point? What makes your business approach unique?
I "own the how."
While many can define a strategy, I specialise in joining the dots across fragmented legacy systems, massive data sets, and complex regulations to ensure the wheels don't fall off.
I bring the rare combination of deep FS (Financial Service) regulatory expertise and large-scale P&L (Profit and Loss)/technology ownership.
Do you have a favourite quote?
"Complexity is the enemy of execution." In my experience, the most successful transformations aren't the most complex; they are the ones where everyone from the C-suite to the shop floor understands the 'why' and their role in reaching the goal.
From Ted Lasso, but a Walt Whitman quote: "Be curious, not judgemental."
Any professional goals for the upcoming year?
My focus is two-fold: securing my next high-stakes executive mandate (COO/CTO/Transformation [Chief Operating Officer/Chief Technology Officer/Transformation]) where I can drive enterprise-wide change, and expanding my work with the APPG AI [All-Party Parliamentary Group on Artificial Intelligence] on ethical regulation. I'm also passionate about championing Process Intelligence tools (like Celonis) to help organisations move from "gut feel" to data-driven operational excellence.
And… Last but not least, how does being an expert of Camelot help you/or add value to your business?
Camelot provides a unique "collision space" for seasoned experts to share genuine war stories. It allows me to test my thinking against peers and stay at the absolute cutting edge of how different sectors are tackling the same systemic challenges, specifically around AI governance and data-led transformation.
_____________________________________________________________________________
As organisations across insurance and financial services grapple with regulatory change, data challenges and the growing impact of AI, Paul's combination of strategic thinking and hands-on delivery experience makes him a valuable addition to the Camelot Network.
With a track record of turning complex transformation programmes into measurable business outcomes, Paul brings practical insight, hard-earned lessons and a clear focus on execution. His expertise will help enrich discussions across the network as members collaborate to solve some of the industry's most pressing challenges.
Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com\in\paulharknett
Comments