Zachary Powery

About

Compliance and risk professional with 9+ years of experience across government regulation, financial services and professional services. Currently serving in a senior leadership capacity, leading compliance reviews, regulatory decision support and remediation with strong expertise in AML/KYC, due diligence, governance and international tax transparency.

Experience

• Senior Compliance Officer
  Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC), Cayman Islands Government
  Jan 2025 – Present

  Act as Head of Compliance, leading a team of six and overseeing the allocation, quality and delivery of compliance reviews and regulatory work. Lead risk-based compliance audits and reviews of regulated entities, assessing AML/KYC and due diligence frameworks, governance, internal controls and adherence to domestic and international requirements. Identify, assess and escalate regulatory deficiencies; oversee remediation and support proportionate enforcement action and senior-level decision-making. Strengthened compliance monitoring methodology, contributing to a 150% improvement in breach detection, while team performance has exceeded established KPIs by 25% since Q2 2025. Support regulatory implementation and change through policy and guidance development, reporting-quality oversight and engagement with regulated financial institutions. Contributed to Cayman's international assessment work through peer-review preparation, framework implementation and regulatory response coordination with bodies including the OECD and FHTP. Reduced penalty retractions to below 2% through targeted improvements to compliance policy and procedures.

• First Officer - DHC6
  Cayman Airways Ltd.
  Oct 2022 – Oct 2023

  Operated in a highly regulated, safety-critical environment in accordance with company procedures and aviation standards, maintaining a zero-incident safety record.

• Compliance Officer
  Department for International Tax Cooperation (DITC), Cayman Islands Government
  Nov 2020 – Nov 2022

  Conducted risk-based compliance audits, investigations, remediation reviews and regulatory assessments across Cayman Islands financial-sector entities. Assessed governance, reporting obligations, due diligence information and compliance frameworks relating to CRS/FATCA and Economic Substance requirements. Conducted cross-agency risk assessments using regulatory and government intelligence, and prepared findings and recommendations for senior approval. Improved review processes and templates, reducing audit turnaround times by approximately 75%; updated guidance that contributed to a 50% reduction in related stakeholder enquiries.

• Underwriter
  Island Heritage Insurance Co. Ltd.
  Jun 2017 – Feb 2019

  Managed underwriting and client-onboarding workflows in regulated financial services, including KYC, AML-aligned risk assessment and evaluation of exposure against established criteria. Improved operational controls, reducing administrative errors by 30%, while contributing to broker-driven sales growth and improved loss ratios.

• Audit Associate
  Deloitte
  Jul 2016 – Apr 2017

  Seconded from Audit to Risk Advisory for a client AML/KYC engagement, conducting customer due diligence reviews, assessing records against AML/KYC requirements and identifying remediation needs. Supported financial-services audit engagements, including investment fund audits, and participated in internal quality and peer-review processes.

Education

• EN
  BA (Hons) Accounting with Law

  Edinburgh Napier University

  Accounting with Law

  Accounting with Law

Skills

Languages

Courses & certifications

• Data Protection Training · Cabinet Office Information Rights Unit
• Certificate in Insurance · Chartered Insurance Institute
• CCAS (Cryptoasset Specialist) · ACAMS
• Certificate in Compliance · International Compliance Association (ICA)