Our Team

Staff Stories

To gain more of an insight on what it’s like to work here, read what actual members of our team think.

Kathryn Moxley

Kathryn Moxley is an auditor and gained ACCA membership after passing her exams in June 2008. 
 
'I started my career at Abbey nearly six years ago working in corporate payments, doing mainly reconciliations, and then a governance role. I moved into internal audit as a junior auditor three years ago because the variety of the role appealed to me. 
 
'Internal audit is a diverse role, with no audit being the same. We get to speak to people at different levels from managing directors to branch staff.
'I'll definitely stay in the internal audit department for the time being. I would like to progress further up the career pyramid and specialise in regulatory audits in the future.'

Dan Baynton

Dan Baynton is a senior auditor, specialising in integrated audits in conjunction with the business audit team. 
 
'IT audit is about getting involved with infrastructure audits and the way the infrastructure is managed. More recently, however, I have been involved with integrated audits where we work with the business audit team and look at the IT with reference to the business system. 
 
'Having ACCA has really helped me with these integrated audits. An example of this is a recent integrated audit on a trading systems area. If I didn't have an understanding of tradings/swaps/futures, I wouldn't have been able to understand the system. 
 
'The integrated audits allow us to transfer our skills. I'm at senior auditor level now, and I'm focusing mainly on these integrated audits. Having integrated audits helps to get business change in place. We can communicate the IT risk to the business’. 

Binal Shah

Binal Shah is an assistant auditor. She has been at Abbey for nearly three years. 'We get lots of study leave and support, which has been really useful. The culture here is very good - everyone in the team wants you to pass which encourages you to do well.
 
'There's also a distinct career path, which is inspiring as I have seen people move up. Managers give you the opportunity to push yourself to develop your skills - perhaps by taking on some higher level work with supervision. This enables you to develop the skills you need to move up once you qualify. 
 
'The ACCA Qualification is really useful because it includes such a wide range of subjects, and we are involved in a wide variety of audits. We work on a project basis, and every six weeks have a new team and new things to learn. We have to produce reports and give recommendations quickly. It's challenging, but something that I really enjoy.'

Stefan Sowa

Stefan Sowa qualified as an ACCA member in March 2007 and has been at Abbey for over three years after joining as a junior auditor. He is now an auditor and focuses on operational audits.
 
'I had worked in external audit in a small firm prior to joining Abbey. Internal audit appealed to me because although it is slightly more specialised, you need a good understanding of the business you work in. ACCA is very broad and gives you a good understanding of a wide variety of areas - all of which have proved very useful to me in my work. 
 
'Santander has a high focus on financial audit. So a lot of our internal audits have a strong finance content. My main responsibilities include audits of wealth management, offshore banking, and private banking.
 
'At the moment, I want to stay in internal audit because it enables me to learn a lot about the business. We are a large department, so there are many opportunities for development.'

Linh Lau

Linh Lau is an auditor and passed her final exams in December 2007. She has been at Abbey for nearly three years after spending a year in practice.
'I had worked in practice for a year, but I really wanted to get into banking and thought that internal audit would offer me a diverse role and enable me to learn a lot about the banking industry. 
 
'All internal audits are different. You have to be able to pick up concepts quickly, and this in itself brings new challenges. Internal audit is very well respected at Abbey and Santander. We get the cooperation of the business throughout the business. 
 
'We get practical experience while we are working. This is useful because we can see how things work in practice rather than just the theory. We get good support from Abbey, but, possibly more importantly, we get good support from our peers. We have all studied or are studying, so we can support each other through the tricky times. We have study sessions together and this really helps us to sort out difficult issues. 
 
'I really enjoy working in internal audit. We have a clear development path and we know what we need to do to get up the ladder. Our managers support us in achieving our career goals. I have had two promotions in the time I have been at Abbey, and seen others rise up too, so I see it happening and know it can be done.'