Even when a bank does business in just one country, compliance can be a headache. But when its on-the-ground operations span more than 90 nations, compliance professionals must navigate a much denser thicket of issues.
Jennifer Taylor is Citi's chief compliance officer for Citibank, banking and international. She sits atop a team of around 2,000 employees, with a portfolio as sprawling as the megabank's footprint.
The job's geographic reach has contracted a bit since 2021, when New York-based Citi announced plans to exit retail banking in 14 countries, including China, India, Russia, Australia, Mexico and South Korea.
"That enables us to focus on the more institutional businesses around the world," Taylor told American Banker. "Once we've exited the consumer business, that does simplify your risk-management profile."
Still, the London-based executive continues to have an awful lot on her plate, as compliance professionals and other banks wrestle with a range of novel, fast-evolving issues. The list of emerging areas includes artificial intelligence; digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies and tokenized deposits; and prediction markets.
Taylor said she's been most proud in 2026 of how her team has embraced AI. "I would say that's the biggest achievement I have felt for my team this year — the continued intellectual curiosity and the willingness to embrace the new and the unnerving and the change that comes along with it," she said.
Taylor noted that regulatory frameworks for AI are more mature in some places than others. She spoke about a "shared responsibility" between regulators and other stakeholders to establish clear governance standards that ensure banks operate in a safe and sound manner.
Regarding digital assets, Taylor talked about the need for regulatory clarity, even as she acknowledged that some jurisdictions, such as the European Union, are further along than others.
"I think there will be more regulation, and I think that brings clarity, which then enables the right frameworks and risk management to be put in place," she said.
