Ian Gardner

Ian brings some 24 years’ experience of the insurance sector from working in roles across the UK, Bermuda and in Emerging Markets.

His experience in practice includes: (i) two years in Bermuda with KPMG earlier in his career; (ii) ten years with another Big 4 firm, providing assurance services to a range of clients, including a number of FTSE listed and multi-national insurance groups. His portfolio included significant breadth and depth of experience in the Lloyd’s and London Market; and (iii) a further five years as a partner in a mid-tier firm in London where he led governance, risk and internal audit services to the insurance industry. In this latter role, he was an approved ‘Skilled Person’ for the purposes of conducting s166 reviews on financial service firms on behalf of the UK’s regulators, the PRA and FCA.

Ian also has experience in senior leadership roles in internal audit in industry, include Chief Auditor for RSA Plc’s Emerging Markets division (covering some 24 countries across Latin America, Asia, Middle East & Eastern Europe) and Audit Partner at Direct Line Group Plc (DLG), the UK’s largest motor and home insurance group. During his time at DLG he led assurance activities relating to the preparations for listing DLG on the London Stock Exchange, Solvency II and a range of business transformation projects.

Recent engagement experience

• Ian has led a number of internal audit services to clients on an outsourced and co-sourced basis.
• He has also led a number of internal audit ‘external audit quality assessments’, highlighting areas of improvement for internal audit functions.
• His broader governance and risk management experience includes: (i) a wide range of governance engagements, such as Board effectiveness reviews and advisory projects relating to the design and implementation of organizational culture and values; and (ii) advisory and assurance projects relating to the design and effectiveness of enterprise risk management and compliance frameworks for insurance groups.