Oonagh van den Berg
CEO and Founder
Email: [email protected]
“Widely recognised as a leading voice in modern compliance, Oonagh van den Berg has built and transformed regulatory frameworks across some of the world’s most complex financial institutions.”
Oonagh van den Berg is an award-winning Compliance and Financial Crime expert, and one of the few professionals globally to have built and transformed compliance frameworks across traditional banking, fintech, and the digital asset ecosystem. With over 20 years of international experience, she is recognised for redefining how organisations approach governance, risk, and regulatory control in an increasingly complex, data-driven world.
Having held senior roles at leading institutions including HSBC, Citi, ING, Standard Chartered, and Uphold, Oonagh has led large-scale regulatory transformation programmes across more than 180 countries. Her work has consistently focused on one critical challenge: how to move compliance from policy and theory into execution that holds up under real-world scrutiny.
As Founder and CEO of Virtual Risk Solutions (VRS), Oonagh is reshaping the consultancy model — combining deep practitioner expertise with data-led, automation-enabled approaches to build compliance frameworks that are not only effective, but defensible. Her work sits at the intersection of data integrity, AI governance, and control architecture, helping institutions design systems that can be explained, evidenced, and trusted.
She is also the Founder of RAW Compliance, a global social enterprise delivering accessible, practitioner-led education to the compliance community. Through RAW, Oonagh has built a global network of professionals, regulators, and academics, united by a shared goal: to remove barriers to education and elevate the standard of compliance worldwide.
Oonagh is the author of the Modernising Compliance™ book series — a practitioner-led body of work focused on bridging the gap between regulatory expectation and operational reality. Her writing challenges conventional thinking and provides practical frameworks for building compliance systems that are credible, scalable, and resilient under scrutiny.
A globally recognised thought leader and keynote speaker, Oonagh regularly advises boards, regulators, and senior executives, and has spoken at international forums including the United Nations and the European Central Bank. She is also the host of the Modernising Compliance podcast, where she engages with industry leaders shaping the future of financial services.
Beyond her professional work, Oonagh is a passionate advocate for ethical leadership, psychological safety, and greater inclusion within the industry. She actively champions working parents and women in leadership, challenging outdated perceptions of ambition, success, and identity in modern careers.
Based in Portugal with her three daughters, Oonagh continues to lead the evolution of compliance — shaping a future where data, technology, and human judgement come together to create systems that are not only compliant, but trusted
Having held senior roles at leading institutions including HSBC, Citi, ING, Standard Chartered, and Uphold, Oonagh has led large-scale regulatory transformation programmes across more than 180 countries. Her work has consistently focused on one critical challenge: how to move compliance from policy and theory into execution that holds up under real-world scrutiny.
As Founder and CEO of Virtual Risk Solutions (VRS), Oonagh is reshaping the consultancy model — combining deep practitioner expertise with data-led, automation-enabled approaches to build compliance frameworks that are not only effective, but defensible. Her work sits at the intersection of data integrity, AI governance, and control architecture, helping institutions design systems that can be explained, evidenced, and trusted.
She is also the Founder of RAW Compliance, a global social enterprise delivering accessible, practitioner-led education to the compliance community. Through RAW, Oonagh has built a global network of professionals, regulators, and academics, united by a shared goal: to remove barriers to education and elevate the standard of compliance worldwide.
Oonagh is the author of the Modernising Compliance™ book series — a practitioner-led body of work focused on bridging the gap between regulatory expectation and operational reality. Her writing challenges conventional thinking and provides practical frameworks for building compliance systems that are credible, scalable, and resilient under scrutiny.
A globally recognised thought leader and keynote speaker, Oonagh regularly advises boards, regulators, and senior executives, and has spoken at international forums including the United Nations and the European Central Bank. She is also the host of the Modernising Compliance podcast, where she engages with industry leaders shaping the future of financial services.
Beyond her professional work, Oonagh is a passionate advocate for ethical leadership, psychological safety, and greater inclusion within the industry. She actively champions working parents and women in leadership, challenging outdated perceptions of ambition, success, and identity in modern careers.
Based in Portugal with her three daughters, Oonagh continues to lead the evolution of compliance — shaping a future where data, technology, and human judgement come together to create systems that are not only compliant, but trusted
Her qualifications include:
- Yale School of Management Executive Women Leadership Programme
- LLM in European Law with International and European Tax Regulation participation
- European Central Bank legal traineeship
- CISI Investment Compliance Diploma
- FINRA Compliance Diploma
- ICA Correspondent Banking AML Specialist Certificate
- ACAMS
- Advanced ACAMS certified in Financial Crime Investigations
A recognised thought leader in the global compliance community, serving as a course leader at RAW Compliance and a guest lecturer at leading institutions including Northumbria University, SIFS, E-Fintech School, and Hong Kong University (HKU) SPACE, with a focus on AI, regulatory compliance, and financial crime.
ClientsReferences on request
|
Awards
|