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Nikhil Asthana, Head of Data, Regtech and Digital, Grant Thornton UK

Nikhil Asthana, Head of Data, Regtech and Digital, Grant Thornton UK

Describe your career to date

I have over 23 years of global experience in data, transformation, regulatory, and change roles that spans from hands-on technical work to high-level strategic consulting and leadership positions. My journey began as a software engineer for Lloyds of London insurance solution provider, building data warehouses, business intelligence data services, and delivering data transformation ETLs. To enhance my business knowledge, I subsequently joined a management consulting firm offering business advisory, strategic alignment, portfolio prioritisation, and data-based decision-making services. In 2010, I started my 11-year tenure in banking with significant roles at Deutsche Bank and Barclays, focusing on data transformation and regulatory management in various capacities across COO, CDO, Group Technology, Corporate, Government Affairs, Risk, Finance, and Treasury. As the EMEA regulatory portfolio lead at Deutsche Bank, I managed a substantial portfolio, advising senior executives and overseeing regulatory data standardisation. At Barclays, my duties involved chief data office services, data governance, data management, and large-scale data transformation programmes. In 2021, I transitioned to Grant Thornton, where I lead Data, RegTech, and Digital practice, with a focus on data governance, data analytics, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and RegTech, enhancing data and technology solutions for the organisation and its clients. el at QuantumBlack.

What challenges do you see for data in the year ahead that will have an impact on your clients and on the industry as a whole? 

There are two primary challenges I see in the coming year. The first is the increasing volume and diversity of data particularly unstructured data. Firms with fragmented or manual data management solutions will require holistic data management and consumption strategies to avoid data blind spots. Secondly, as AI becomes more embedded in daily solutions, the ability of the firms to harness these technologies to realise efficiency gains will require availability of vast volume of high quality, relevant data while maintaining control and compliance to mitigate the risks.

How are you developing the data literacy of a) your own organisation and b) your clients?

To improve data literacy within our organisation and among our clients, we are transitioning from a one-size-fits-all approach to personalised learning journeys. By utilising personas, we integrate data relevance into daily work priorities, acknowledging the varying levels of data maturity across individuals and departments. Our strategy involves crafting industry or easily understandable analogies, such as using car, book or library metaphors, to explain data concepts in bite-sized, easily understandable formats. This tailored approach helps engage and support all colleagues by making data literacy accessible and relevant to their roles and needs.

How are you preparing your organisation and your clients for AI adoption and change management?

To prepare our organisation and clients for AI adoption, we are encouraging an environment of experimentation, urging users to explore AI’s practical applications in their projects or daily tasks. We have established an internal sandbox for rapid hypothesis testing and frequent enhancements while promoting the best practices. Additionally, we are enhancing our AI Assurance framework to ensure AI use is safe, ethical, and compliant. We are rolling out education on the importance of robust data governance, quality and data ethics, ensuring stakeholders understand the importance of these elements in maximising AI benefits for their operations while managing the risks.

Nikhil Asthana
has been included in:

100 Enablers 2024 (EMEA)

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