Nigel Williams

Clayton Utz
Senior Advisor Sydney
Overview

Nigel Williams is a Senior Advisor in our Risk Advisory practice, bringing over 20 years of experience in C-Suite roles and board positions across Australia, New Zealand, China, and Switzerland. His expertise spans both financial and non-financial risk, including compliance, operational resilience, technology, cyber, and data science. Nigel has extensive experience in portfolio management of non-financial risks, credit, market, funding, and liquidity risks. Having served as ANZ's Group Chief Risk Officer, Nigel had has significant experience in Asia. More recently, he was Group Chief Risk Officer at Commonwealth Bank, where he played a pivotal role in enhancing the organisation’s risk management, culture, and governance following and since APRA's Prudential Review.

Notable Work
  • As Group Chief Risk Officer at Commonwealth Bank, led significant technology and remediation programs, fostering transparent relationships with regulators and government.

  • Prior to the Banking Royal Commission, from 2011 to early 2018, served as Group Chief Risk Officer at ANZ Banking Group, overseeing financial and non-financial risk across the organisation.

  • Board member of ASB Bank and previously International Financial Risk Institute, contributing to governance and risk oversight at a global level.

  • Chair of the Audit, Risk, and Technology Committee for Cancer Council NSW, driving strategic initiatives to improve operational resilience and governance.

Insights
Turning compliance into capability: practical use of the NSW Risk Management Toolkit
7 Jul 2025 | Article
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Media release: Clayton Utz appoints CBA's former Chief Risk Officer Nigel Williams alongside risk and governance executives to growing Risk Advisory practice
11 Jun 2025 | Media Release
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