Lola Ninonuevo

Lola was appointed interim CIB CAO in September 2024 and Head of CIB Risk Programmes in November 2023, in addition to her role as International Chief Operating Officer at Wells Fargo. As chair of the International Operating Committee, which includes members from all lines of business across EMEA and APAC, Lola oversees a global team of around 1800 employees, setting strategic priorities and driving transformation.

Her responsibilities include direct management of the CIB Market Conduct and Supervision Programme, the Front Line Conduct and Compliance Risk portfolio, International Business Management, and all core COO functions, such as change management, data, client lifecycle management, sustainability, and operations. Lola is also the COO with regulatory responsibility for two Wells Fargo UK entities and has built strong relationships with entity boards as well as US and international regulators.

How does it feel to be nominated for the Award for Achievement?

I’m truly honoured to be shortlisted for this award by Women in Banking and Finance. Throughout my career I’ve endeavoured to lead by example and be a change-maker. Global banking management teams rely on my expertise to operationalise legacy processes and practices, transform the organisation, and enhance the business model, end to end, to ultimately deliver better products and services to clients. I focus on excellence, for both myself and my global teams, and I think that my successes throughout my career reflect the drive, focus and passion I have for high quality execution and performance.

You’ve had a distinguished career, what key leadership experiences have shaped your approach to managing large, complex teams across multiple regions?

Prior to Wells Fargo when I was at HSBC, I led an extremely complex and unprecedented comprehensive global remediation programme from 2012 through the end of 2016. I joined the remediation early on, led the formulation, planning, and execution of the programme across the world. I provided key insight, management information, project management, strategic vision, and active guidance – developing the programme from scratch and drawing in stakeholders and sponsors across all three lines of defense throughout the bank. I also hired a multitude of talented people to build a formidable team, focused on the timely and effective implementation and embedding of this global programme.

As a C-suite leader, visibility and authenticity are important to you.. How has your personal and professional journey informed the way you lead, and how do you create space for others to bring their authentic selves to work?

I come from a mixed heritage background, and early on in my career, I didn’t share too much about my life outside of work. If I could go back and give my junior self advice for the road ahead, it would be to bring your full self to work, sooner. This life lesson empowers me to encourage others to do the same, and I do this by speaking honestly and authentically about my own diversity now, which I hope creates a safe space for others to do the same. I genuinely think that I should be judged the success of my career and the teams I’ve built and how I encourage and empower them—I do this by being understanding, valuing diverse perspectives and experiences regardless of background or seniority, and showing genuine care and interest.

As a previous executive sponsor for the EMEA Diversity & Inclusion Council, how do you collaborate with others in leadership to ensure DE&I is not just a priority but also a measurable success across the organisation?

At Wells Fargo, achieving DE&I goals has been integrated into our performance objectives as senior leaders, which helps hold us accountable. We’re able to use qualitative and quantitative data, such as measuring how diverse the talent pipeline is for our hiring practices and leveraging feedback from our employee engagement surveys, to help gauge our success and highlight where we have more work to do.

I am focused on having measurable outcomes and achieving innovative and sustainable improvements to continue to embed DE&I into our day-to-day activities, and I use my position to work with other senior leaders to influence these changes. I think the Glide program is a terrific example of having measurable success. The Glide Programme is aimed at individuals, primarily skilled female professionals, who have taken extended career breaks and are now ready to rejoin the professional world. Our first programme recently ended, and I’m proud to share that 67% of our first year’s cohort took on permanent roles within the organsation.

As someone who has navigated multiple leadership roles and advocated for DE&I, what advice would you give to other senior leaders in financial services who want to drive meaningful change in their organisations?

With all the learnings on how important it is to have diversity and diversity of thought around the table, and often being the only woman in the conversation, I feel like it’s my obligation to ask those difficult questions and make sure we’re challenging ourselves to do the right things and to hold ourselves accountable. I hope to inspire and challenge other senior leaders to do the same.