Head of Operational Risk

Richard Law-Riding

Head of Operational Risk

Richard Law-Riding joined Watson Ramsbottom in May 2021 as the Risk and Compliance Manager, before becoming Head of Operational Risk in April 2023. He brings experience to the growing Regulatory, Risk and Compliance Department.

Having completed an honours degree in Business at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2005, Richard then spent 15 years working several roles in the Banking and Insurance departments of Co-op, spending many years as a claims manager before moving into Risk, where responsibilities saw him involved in the business wide response to the MEN Arena bombing, be heavily involved in maintaining day-to-day operations through the COVID pandemic, supporting the strategic and operational planning and delivery of data centre moves, relocation of all head office colleagues, and ultimately, the transfer of Co-op’s Insurance operations to a different business entity upon its acquisition in 2020/21.

Richard works alongside the Head of Regulatory Risk Mark Cartin in leading the Regulatory, Risk and Compliance Department that supports all areas of the business in meeting its obligations to comply with current legislation, regulatory responsibilities, industry best practice, and our own agreed operating procedures. His work ensures that there are effective procedures in place to both identify and mitigate risks and respond to risk events, and ascertains that the day-to-day operations of the practice are conducted in compliance with all relevant obligations.

Richard specialises in Financial Risk, Operational (Enterprise) Risk, Regulatory Risk, Business Resilience and Crisis Management. Richard is a certified member of the Chartered Insurance Institute, a member of the Society of Claims Professionals, and holds the advanced “MBCI” level membership of the Business Continuity Institute. He has also recently become one of the first people in the UK to pass both of the Law Society’s Advanced Risk and Compliance Accreditation exams, in Legal Practice and Anti-Money Laundering.

Outside of work, Richard enjoys sports, regularly watching Blackburn Rovers try to play football, alongside enjoying rugby and in particular cricket. He is the Honorary Secretary of Great Harwood Cricket Club as well as actively playing for the club in the summer.