Growth and transformation work for organisations that can’t afford to move fast and break things.
FSI is one of our deepest sectors – not a generalist consultancy stretching to cover it. Built from direct experience leading operating-model transformation inside Australia’s largest general insurer, and delivered alongside FMA Consulting for the regulatory and privacy depth most engagements need but don’t have.
Private Health Insurance
Led PHI acquisition strategy early in career for major insurers Bupa, HBF & NIB, growing share of wallet by outperforming specialised performance vendors on paid acquisition ROAS – and have continued working closely with the PHI industry across subsequent roles since.
Home Loans & Insurance JVs
Applied the same acquisition and audience targeting frameworks built for Domain’s Audience Extension product to scale its whitelabelled Home Loans and Insurance joint ventures, contributing to 3x year-on-year growth in that regulated product line.
Superfunds, Wealth & Brokerage Platforms
Commercial work across Capital Markets platforms spanning retail, industry, and wrap superannuation funds, wealth managers, and brokerage platforms – driving the strategy behind comparison panels, CRM re-engagement, and integrations of investor calculators and guides across those platforms.
Personal Finance Tools
Dynamic personal finance widgets – credit card and comparison tools – built primarily to power automotive lifecycle cross-sell and up-sell tied to vehicle purchase and ownership stages, with a secondary application in property (credit offers for home furnishings, loyalty programs linked to home loan products).
Operating Model & Governance
Designed and embedded operating-model governance from scratch for a 6,000+ stakeholder personalisation program at Australia’s largest general insurer.
FMA Consulting Partnership
Continued FSI and regulated-industry work delivered in partnership with FMA Consulting’s certified privacy and AI governance practice. More on this partnership below →
The rigour a typical media or marketing engagement doesn’t have
Regulatory scrutiny is constant, not occasional
Every data use case, every AI application, every customer communication carries compliance implications that a generalist marketing engagement isn’t built to navigate. FSI work needs governance baked in from the first workshop, not bolted on before launch.
Stakeholder complexity is genuinely different
Legal, risk, compliance, technology and customer teams all have a legitimate seat at the table – and legitimate reasons to say no. Getting from strategy to delivery means designing for that from the outset, not treating it as friction to push through.
Trust is the product, not just the brand
In FSI, a personalisation program or AI use case that erodes customer trust is a bigger risk than one that underperforms commercially. That changes how you evaluate success – and how conservative you need to be by default.
What Australian FSI organisations are actually up against right now
Privacy Act reform Tranche 1 passes – enhanced OAIC powers, higher penalties, doxxing offence in force.
Statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy commences – the first direct legal pathway for individuals, not just OAIC-led enforcement.
ASIC finalises its review of RG 234, adding explicit guidance on advertising AI-enabled financial advice tools and consolidating past-performance rules.
Ban on superannuation fund advertising during employee onboarding takes effect, with a 12-month transitional enforcement approach.
Automated decision-making transparency requirements commence under the Privacy Act – organisations must disclose when personal information is used in automated decisions.
The Children’s Online Privacy Code is due to be registered, adding binding rules for handling children’s personal information.
ASIC’s transitional enforcement period for the superannuation advertising ban ends – full enforcement begins for any onboarding-stage advertising still non-compliant.
Privacy Act Tranche 2 – a “fair and reasonable” test, redefined consent, and removal of the small business exemption – confirmed as progressing, with no scheduled date.
Insurance
Claims handling, home insurance affordability and climate risk are under active regulatory scrutiny, with ASIC naming claims handling and pricing among its 2026 enforcement priorities and APRA running climate vulnerability assessments across the largest insurers. The pressure is to modernise customer experience without losing the governance rigour regulators now expect by default.
Where we help: the operating-model work behind the IAG case study on this page – designed to translate that regulatory pressure into clear accountability and measurable delivery, not just another compliance layer bolted on top.
Superannuation & Wealth
Nearly three million Australians become eligible to access their superannuation over the next decade, with more than $750 billion expected to move from accumulation into retirement. ASIC has flagged operational failures – claims delays, poor IT infrastructure, cyber and fraud risk – as a key 2026 concern, alongside APRA’s CPS 230 operational risk standard now requiring funds to actively manage third-party service provider dependencies.
Where we help: commercial and platform experience across retail, industry and wrap super funds, wealth managers and brokerage platforms – understanding both the growth pressure funds are under and the operational discipline regulators now expect in return.
Lending & Personal Finance
Consumers increasingly discover and compare lending and personal finance products through marketplace and comparison-driven journeys, not direct channels – putting pressure on how these products get positioned and cross-sold across the moments that actually matter to a customer.
Where we help: built and scaled acquisition frameworks for home loan joint ventures and personal finance comparison tools across major marketplaces – a practical understanding of how these products actually get discovered and chosen today.
Designing operating model governance from scratch
A real example, not a hypothetical – the full case study is on our Selected Work page.
Situation
IAG’s Retail Insurance Personalisation initiatives were lacking a fit-for-purpose operating model – prioritisation, delivery feedback and compliance oversight were being handled ad hoc, right as the business was working to maximise value from a recent investment in new Adobe MarTech capabilities.
Approach
Designed and embedded a three-part operating model from the ground up: a Journey SteerCo for prioritisation and alignment, a supporting squad model for delivery and insights feedback, and an Audience Council governance framework for compliance, standardisation and measurement oversight – alongside Data Usage Guidelines to give responsible AI use a clear framework from day one.
Outcome
Aligned 100+ core stakeholders around a shared governance structure, and built proactive risk identification and get-well planning, escalating to the executives before issues became blockers rather than after.
Where we help most
FMA Consulting – the regulatory depth alongside the commercial experience
FSI engagements need both: hands-on commercial and operating-model experience, and specialist privacy/AI governance depth. FMA Consulting is the certified privacy and AI governance advisory we partner with for that second layer – led by Managing Director Shannon Fitzpatrick, holding AIGP and CIPM certifications. Together, FSI clients get a genuinely enterprise-tested operating model perspective and the regulatory rigour to back it.
What FSI organisations ask us
Do you actually work inside regulated FSI organisations, or just advise from the outside?
Both, but the depth comes from the inside experience. We’ve led operating-model transformation inside Australia’s largest general insurer directly – not as an external advisor parachuted in, but embedded in the program, accountable for the same governance and delivery outcomes as internal teams.
How do you handle data governance and AI use case evaluation for regulated environments?
Every use case is evaluated against a practical governance lens – brand integrity, user consent, and regulatory compliance – before it reaches production, not after. This is delivered in partnership with FMA Consulting for the specialist regulatory layer alongside our own operational experience.
What does “operating model design” actually mean in an FSI context?
Concretely: steering committees for prioritisation and alignment, delivery squads with a clear feedback loop, and a governance council for compliance, standardisation and measurement oversight – each with defined purpose, not just an org chart. It’s the structure that determines whether a program can actually move at pace without losing control.
Can you support MarTech and CDP decisions specifically within FSI compliance constraints?
Yes – this is one of our core service lines. Platform selection, vendor evaluation and CDP/lifecycle personalisation work, evaluated against the additional data handling, consent and audit requirements FSI environments carry that a generalist MarTech engagement wouldn’t account for.
How is this different from a Big Four consultancy or a specialist compliance firm?
Two things: speed, and scope of ownership. Large firms often mean 6-12 months before meaningful change reaches operations, layers of account management between you and the person doing the actual thinking, and a strategy deck handed off for someone else to implement. This is direct – the same person scoping the problem is accountable for the operating model actually working, paired with FMA Consulting’s certified privacy and AI governance depth for the specialist regulatory layer.
What’s the best way to start if we’re not sure what we need yet?
A Strategy Sprint – a 2-4 week engagement built for exactly this, giving executive clarity before committing to a larger investment. Get in touch to talk through where you’re starting from.
Ready to talk about your specific regulatory and commercial context?
Page version 1.0 – published July 2026.