Olivia is a member of the firm’s Financial Services, Risk, and Social Sector Practices and coleads our global knowledge efforts in risk management.
Olivia advises banks and other financial institutions on a wide range of issues across strategy, organization, risk management, and operations. She has led transformative impact for many global financial institutions and corporate business functions. She has also worked extensively on financial inclusion and broader economic development, with a primary focus in emerging markets. Along with her expertise in risk and financial inclusion, Olivia has led projects focused on foundation portfolio construction, customer experience, digital payments, operational improvement, and organizational design.
Olivia has helped multiple institutions transform their enterprise-wide approach to risk management, drawing on deep expertise in risk appetite, identification, effectiveness and efficiency, organization and talent, culture, and other areas. In addition, she has advised numerous banks through the rigorous stress-testing processes including several major transformations related to comprehensive capital analysis and review (CCAR) as well as operational risk remediations. As part of these broader risk transformations, she has also led model risk management and model development efforts across multiple institutions.
Olivia has led extensive research efforts related to financial inclusion and economic development. For example, she has led efforts assessing the potential economic value from digital financial services in the developing world, examining the economics of global payment systems, and investigating risk associated with digitally enabled payments that serve financially excluded populations in the developing world. Her most recent research focused on the benefits and risks associated with Digital ID.
Olivia publishes frequently on topics related to risk and financial inclusion, most notably through the McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey on Risk. In addition to her publishing efforts, she speaks regularly at large industry events and convenes executives in smaller roundtable formats to push the latest thinking in the industry.
Prior to joining McKinsey, Olivia was a Pappalardo fellow in physics at MIT, where she conducted research both in physics and in neuroscience.
Published work
“The resilience imperative: Succeeding in uncertain times,” McKinsey & Company, May 2021
“How to spend $12 trillion,” Project Syndicate, March 2021
"A 2021 risk agenda for boards of directors at US banks," McKinsey & Company, February 2021
“COVID-19: Making the case for robust digital financial infrastructure,” McKinsey Global Institute, January 2021
“How US customers’ attitudes to fintech are shifting during the pandemic,” McKinsey & Company, December 2020
“Meeting the future: Dynamic risk management for uncertain times,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020
“Strengthening institutional risk and integrity culture,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020
“Ten things to know about gender equality,” McKinsey Global Institute, September 2020
“Don't let the pandemic set back gender equality,” Harvard Business Review, September 2020
“COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects,” McKinsey & Company, July 2020
“How COVID-19 has impacted Black-white financial inequality,” McKinsey & Company, July 2020
“Financial life during the COVID-19 pandemic—an update,” McKinsey & Company, July 2020
“Banking system resilience in the time of COVID-19,” McKinsey & Company, July 2020
“A global view of financial life during COVID-19,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020
“Stability in the storm: US banks in the pandemic and the next normal,” McKinsey & Company, May 2020
“The future of operational-risk management in financial services,” McKinsey & Company, April 2020
“Leadership in the time of coronavirus: COVID-19 response and implications for banks,” McKinsey & Company, March 2020
“Creating the bank enterprise risk management function of the future,” McKinsey & Company, March 2020
“Making a Step Change in Risk Efficiency and Effectiveness,” The European Financial Review, August/September, 2019
“Transforming risk efficiency and effectiveness,” McKinsey & Company, April 2019
“Digital identification: A key to inclusive growth,” McKinsey Global Institute, April 2019
“Nearly one billion people have no form of legal ID,” CNN Business, McKinsey Global Institute, February 2019
“Digital identification: A key to inclusive growth summary findings,” McKinsey Global Institute, January 2019
“The case for digitalization,” Project Syndicate, January 2019
“Perspectives on CCAR: Preparing for 2019 amid expectations of regulatory relief,” McKinsey & Company, December 2018
“Mobile money in emerging markets: The business case for financial inclusion,” McKinsey & Company, March 2018
“The Value of Digitizing Government Payments in Developing Economies,” Digital Revolution in Public Finance, IMF, October 2017
“Perspectives on CCAR: Confronting uncertainty in the 2018 cycle,” McKinsey & Company, August 2017
“How digital finance could boost growth in emerging economies,” McKinsey Global Institute, September 2016
“Perspectives on CCAR: Looking ahead to the 2017 cycle,” McKinsey & Company, July 2016
Education
Harvard University
PhD, physics
Oxford University
MSc, mathematics (Rhodes Scholar)
Stanford University
BA; BS, physics and mathematics