New cross-industry research on the future of AI governance in financial services strengthened by appointment of Santander Global COO (Legal)
Zango, the UK-based start-up developing AI agents for financial services compliance, today announced that Dean Nash, Global Chief Operating Officer (Legal) at Santander, has joined its Advisory Board.
Dean Nash will play a key role on Zango’s Advisory Board, including shaping The Future of AI Governance and Compliance in Financial Services, a new cross-industry research initiative. It brings together senior leaders from financial institutions with independent research partners affiliated with the University of Oxford and the University of Glasgow.
AI is rapidly moving from experimentation to live deployment across financial institutions, yet many governance frameworks were designed for static systems rather than adaptive AI. As AI becomes operationally embedded, including through more agentic workflows, the research examines whether existing approaches to oversight, accountability, and control remain fit for purpose.
As Global Chief Operating Officer (Legal) at Santander, Dean Nash oversees legal operations across one of the world’s largest banking groups. He has previously held senior legal leadership roles within both global banks and high-growth financial technology firms, bringing deep experience at the intersection of legal operations, technology transformation, and regulatory risk – insight that will help ensure the research reflects the real-world governance and operational constraints facing large, regulated institutions.
Dean Nash said:
“As AI moves from pilots into core workflows within financial institutions, new questions around governance, accountability, and oversight are emerging. This research is an opportunity to examine how existing governance models hold up in practice, and where they need to evolve. I’m pleased to be joining Zango’s Advisory Board to support this important research.”
Ritesh Singhania, CEO and Co-Founder of Zango, said:
“Dean brings unique, first-hand insight into how global financial institutions manage legal, compliance, and governance complexity at scale. His perspective will be invaluable as we convene senior leaders through this research to examine how AI governance needs to evolve in regulated financial services.”
Dean Nash’s appointment comes amid increasing regulatory scrutiny of AI systems, including expectations around explainability, accountability, and human-in-the-loop oversight. It underscores Zango’s ambition to convene the industry around credible, practitioner-led thinking on how AI is being embedded into regulated financial services, and the implications for governance and oversight.