Do you remember, Ilka?

As my team members are in different locations and unable to meet at the moment, we needed to find a way to keep up our team spirit without meeting in person. We’ve done a small challenge or played a game in each weekly Skype meeting since March. Take the ‘birth map’, for instance. This involved each person showing where they were born on a world map and discussing what everyone associates with that place. We also had topics such as the sportiest activity of the week, the best headwear, presenting your favourite meal, showing your favourite book, guessing quotation and the museums challenge, just to name a few. A colleague once cooked for us virtually and showed us simple and healthy recipes. We will repeat this every few weeks and motivate our colleagues to eat healthily. During the Sustainable September campaign, we discussed the topic carbon footprint and we were keen to follow it up with some action. I thought about how I had a lot of unworn clothes in my wardrobe that could be swapped. It was a similar story for my female colleagues – so they rolled up their sleeves, cleaned out a cupboard in the office and set up our new swap shop. We then shared the amazing result on LinkedIn.

I studied law, spent a lot of time abroad and started out in anti-trust legislation. In late 2005, I joined RWEST as part of a secondment from a major law firm and was subsequently hired. I then worked for many years as an anti-trust lawyer. In 2006, the European Commission started investigations into the energy sector and, as I had previously trained with the German Federal Cartel Office and the European Commission during my legal clerkship, I had a lot of knowledge about how these authorities work and how they ran such processes. Later on I also worked on the Eastern European business and my area of responsibility grew steadily from there. In 2012, I moved to my current position as Head of Compliance. At the time, we were just a handful of people and now my team includes about 17 people.

All team members have different tasks. For example, our ‘Know Your Customer’ team is based in Swindon, they handle business partner checks and have extensive expertise in the area of white-collar crime, such as money laundering and fraud. White collar crime in a nutshell is anything where people may end up in prison [Ilka looks mischievously at me and I can only laugh]. If, for example, ‘Dana Turi Supertrading’ [note: This should exist, it would be so successful!] wants to do business with us, then our team will thoroughly check who is behind the organisation and whether there are any red flags that suggest it is better not to enter into a business relationship with this company. Some of my colleagues speak several languages and are very experienced, which makes this type of detective work a lot easier. Furthermore, the team deals with country risks and screens the instant messages of our commercial teams. Another colleague manages our databases. Another team in Essen deals with all Compliance related topics in Continental Europe and Asia. In this team we have an expert in financial services and exchange rules: In the same team colleagues work on projects, assess algorithms, design Compliance training etc. Then we have a few lawyers in our team who handle a variety of issues. They respond to requests for information from exchanges and authorities and handle various legal issues, such as market abuse, insider trading and jurisdictional regulation. We also give Compliance training to our staff, look at deal structures, draft processes, internal policies and all sorts of other things.

Yes, there were. A few years ago we had a relatively large number of such cases and these things do happen from time to time. Some fraudsters are easy to spot but sometimes it takes longer to spot others. But if we come across a ‘Salami GmbH’ with ‘Butcher’ listed as its managing director, which has suddenly discovered emissions trading as their new business activity, our suspicions will be raised. Incidentally, we are not allowed to tell business partners why we reject them or give them any indication that we suspect them of a criminal offence or that we have reported them to the relevant authorities, as we would be tipping them off [preventing prosecution] which is a punishable offence.

I have a lot of creative freedom at RWEST. Although we are often approached with matters that we need to deal with this, it is often our decision how we go about tackling the subject. As a Compliance department, we can also take topics up and design projects independently. I also like that, as a manager, I have the privilege to accompany our team on their professional journey. Although, or perhaps because, RWEST is so international, everyone works closely together. Many things are driven by relationships here and I think that’s great.

My team is willing to go the extra mile. During the months when we were in first lockdown, we had even more to do than before but worked a lot of extra hours and gave our best. I was really impressed by the level of commitment. Ultimately, however, we as managers had to say, “Don’t forget to look after yourself and switch off the computer.” I also like the fact that everyone is open to getting involved in all kinds of different things or projects. I make crazy suggestions and the others are usually supportive and join in.

I’m interested in people with all their differences and believe that everyone in the team can add value. We just need to understand who can do what well and then it is our task to put the right people on the right job in which they will succeed. This requires mutual understanding and respect. Our motto to make the best out of every situation.

I have two children, so I have no free time. [grins] What do I really like to do? Hmmm… I like to ride my bike [we laugh]. I read a lot, take photos, like pretty things [laughs] and I do lots of things with my family and friends. But I really do like to ride my bike. And drinking coffee is another hobby of mine.

I think it’s great that RWEST still has the spirit of a start-up, with its speed and ‘can do’ attitude. We have a wide range of personalities in the company. It’s not about where you come from or who you know, but about your talent. The staff is willing to work hard to be successful and achieve a common goal. It’s fantastic and I don’t think that’s the case in every company.

Interviewer: Dana Turi, Corporate Communications & Events