Risk and compliance leadership for lending start-ups and scale-ups
ES Insights is the advisory practice of Emmett Smith, a risk and compliance executive who has worked with industry leaders including Barclays, Close Brothers, NewDay and Vanquis Bank. Most recently, as employee number one at Salad Finance, Emmett was at the centre of building a c.£100M lender that won a King’s Award for innovation in 2026.
Expertly navigating the challenges of a high-growth business
Emmett has navigated challenging high-growth environments on many occasions with a pragmatic solutions approach.
What colleagues have said
Emmett has a pragmatic approach to solving problems and was an excellent sounding board throughout my role at Salad. He is diligent and pragmatic and with a great knowledge and understanding of all aspects of Credit Risk put into practice in the Consumer lending market as well as being a useful addition to any Exco team.
His knowledge of credit scorecards and policy has played a key role in the launch and development of Close Brothers Retail Finance.
Throughout the entire time that Emmett and I worked together, he consistently demonstrated outstanding leadership, excellent senior stakeholder relationship skills, high creativity and resilience in often very challenging and complex situations. He was always highly regarded and respected by senior managers, peers and clients for his creativity, intellect and ability. Without reservation I would certainly recommend Emmett.
Emmett uses his experience of delivering complex projects when managing a portfolio of them and the knowledge that he understands the detail gives those in his team and in the broader organisation confidence that delivery will not only be on time but also accurate. I enjoyed working with Emmett and would do so again.
Quotes from LinkedIn recommendations.
Experience
Thirty years across start-ups, banks and lenders, with credit risk at the centre since 2003.
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2018 to 2026 Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Salad Finance Limited, and Executive Director of Salad Technologies Limited
- Employee number one, at the centre of decision-making on risk, reward and priorities across ten departments.
- Directed a team of 10 risk and compliance professionals.
- Embedded Consumer Duty across the business.
- Obtained the consumer credit and broking authorisations in 2018 and the account information services authorisation in 2024.
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2016 to 2018 Head of Customer Management, Credit Risk NewDay
- Owned credit strategy for customer management: line increases, line decreases, authorisations and personal loans.
- Led a team of six analysts for insight and monitoring.
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2013 to 2016 Head of Credit Close Brothers Retail Finance, part of Klarna from 2017
- Launched a retail finance business focused on small and medium sized retailers.
- Credit lead for strategy and underwriting.
- Reported to the credit function at Group level.
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2012 to 2013 Head of Credit Risk British Pearl Limited
- Start-up preparing to launch short term loans. The business did not launch for lack of funding.
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2010 to 2012 Associate Director, Group Information Risk Barclays
- Data quality subject matter expert.
- Drove best practice in information risk across Barclays Group.
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2003 to 2010 Senior Credit Risk Manager Vanquis Bank
- Led credit risk change initiatives across the customer lifecycle, from acquisition to collections.
- Managed C-level stakeholders and senior managers in Marketing, Technology and Operations.
- Led delivery of credit operational process policy.
- Recruited and managed a team of up to five analysts.
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1996 to 2003 Direct marketing analyst and manager Experian Marketing Services, Legal & General and Littlewoods Home Shopping Group
- Analyst and manager roles across three organisations, building the data foundations for later work in credit.
Education and skills
Education
- MSc Operational ResearchLancaster University, 1996
- BSc Mathematics, First Class HonoursSouthampton University, 1995
Skills
- Analytical thinking
- Communication and negotiation
- Customer service orientation
- Ethical judgment and integrity
- Financial acumen
- Project leadership
- Regulatory knowledge
- Risk assessment
- SQL
- Technological proficiency
Engage with ES Insights
For insights into driving your business forwards, email or call Emmett directly.
