2025 November E-Newsletter
A Message from our Executive Director
Welcome to our November e-news and our 2025 Year in Review.
As we come to the end of another year, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what has been a stellar year of events, webinars, forums and engagement across the RMA Australia risk community.
In 2025, RMA Australia delivered an impactful calendar of webinars and events, with strong participation from members:
14 webinars and 6 face-to-face events
Events hosted across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and online
An average of 500+ registrations per webinar with 1541 new members since 1 January 2025
This year also saw several standout moments:
- ‘AI in Action’ with Deloitte set a new record with 1,169 registrations
- CBA’s ‘In Conversation with Andrew Hinchliff’ attracted over 900 registrations
- Our ‘Risk Fundamentals – Operational Risk’ session drew 695 registrations, underscoring strong demand for core risk capability development
We look forward to continuing to deliver high-value programs and opportunities in 2026:
- To foster continuous professional growth and development of members
- To support effective risk management education and training
- To keep members aware of emerging risks and developments in global risk management practices
- To promote discussion about ethical and professional conduct in the financial services industry
Thank you for your ongoing support and participation throughout the year.
Please get in touch via [email protected] if you have any topic suggestions or would like to host in 2026.
Richard Gilbert
Executive Director
RMA Australia
Member Feedback 💬
What they say….
“Lively discussion with expert speakers”
“Informative and well considereed”
“Very insightful – great topic!”
“Excellent Panel”
“Liked the Q & A time!” 😀
Spotlight On…
⭐ Lucy Masters, Acting Chief Audit Officer, Westpac ⭐
Lucy Masters is a seasoned finance and risk executive with over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry, having worked across Sydney, Singapore, London and New Zealand. She has built deep expertise in internal audit, compliance, financial crime and enterprise risk, holding senior audit leadership roles at institutions such as Citibank, Barclays and Westpac.
In her current role as Acting Chief Audit Officer at Westpac, she leads a team of auditors and advises the Board, executive management, and regulators on the effectiveness of governance, risk management and internal control frameworks.
Lucy also serves on the RMA Australia Governance & Management Committee as Secretary, reflecting her strong standing in the risk community. Learn more about Lucy here.
What are the 3 primary tasks of your role in Internal Audit?
1. Leads and sets strategy for the Westpac Group Audit team.
2. Advising the Board, Executive Management and other Group-wide stakeholders on the adequacy and effectiveness of governance, risk management and internal controls.
3. Leading the execution of the annual Group Audit plan.
In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges facing risk professionals in our industry?
It is certainly a very challenging, yet rewarding time to be in risk! In my opinion, the two most pressing challenges for risk professionals are dealing with the assessment of geo-political risks that continue to emerge and move in different directions at different speeds, and consideration and sizing of risk contagion factors across the landscape – specifically how to prepare, size and respond to those.
What are the main benefits of being an RMA Australia member?
RMA Australia is a fantastic organisation for all risk professionals to enhance their risk and industry knowledge both domestically and internationally, network with like-minded professionals and also advocate for the risk profession more broadly.
I am inspired by the fact that the genesis of the RMA itself was a group of like-minded CROs coming together to form something specifically for us risk professionals – and so it began!
What topic (s) would you like to see included in the 2026 RMA Australia webinar/events calendar?
I am very interested in the risk culture aspect of risk management. I believe a continued focus on this topic can help risk professionals assist in forwarding, educating, enhancing and further embedding this across all lines of defence in their organisations.
📷 Lucy Masters, Acting Chief Audit Officer, Westpac
E-Risk Library
Our E-Risk Library remains a highly valued on-demand service for members, featuring 80 webinars that span a wide range of risk topics.
From early COVID-era insights (2020) and core Risk Fundamentals to expert features on global developments and leadership transitions (Trump), ECRP podcasts, international Risk Resources, and our most-viewed 2025 session, AI in Action, which attracted 146 views in the first 30 days post webinar.
Strong on-demand engagement in our risk e-library shows the clear demand for risk content that fits around individual schedules. The ability to access high-quality webinars and resources at any time ensures our members can learn, revisit, and deepen their understanding when it’s most convenient.
⭐ Log in to access the e-risk library via the member area on our website.⭐
Upcoming Events
4 December | 4 – 5 pm AEDT | WEBINAR | Unlocking the hidden power of GRC: From reporting to risk intelligence – hosted by EY.
