Markets Media spoke with Carol Williamson, Head of Compliance, Hong Kong, Millennium, who won Excellence in Corporate Culture at the 2025 Women in Finance Asia Awards.

What was your reaction to winning the Award?

Surprise! It was an honour to be recognized by the committee and share the stage with such a talented group of women in the industry. I’m very grateful for the support of my colleagues and the opportunity to work with such exceptional individuals.

How do you make compliance approachable and collaborative — especially in high-performance, fast-paced environments like hedge funds or asset management?

Working in a fast-moving, high-performance environment requires resilience as well as agility in one’s thinking. It requires collaboration, consistency and transparency between teams, as well as dedication to building and maintaining strong relationships.

How do you ensure consistency in corporate culture across different geographies, while still respecting local norms and regulatory nuances?

For any firm operating globally with team members located across various countries, it helps when there is a core set of values that is well understood by all team members, who can all work together towards a common goal.

What advice would you give to compliance professionals or rising leaders who want to play a more active role in shaping culture, not just enforcing rules?

It is important to understand the firm’s core set of values and goals, but also, on a day-to-day basis, be interested in what different business areas want to achieve and why. Asking questions, spending time with people and learning what they do and how their teams operate can be tremendously helpful in forging productive relationships and achieving good outcomes. Earlier in my career, I was perhaps reticent to ask lots of questions but as time has gone on, I’ve realized that people welcome your curiosity and interest, especially if it means you can contribute more effectively and provide more valuable, better-informed insights to discussions and business decisions.