Finance, Banking, Insurance & Investment — Governance Five™ © Non-Product Governance Guide

In financial-sector settings, Governance Five™ © is used as a repeatable non-product decision-to-delivery flow. It focuses on questions such as:

• How customer-outcome, fairness and inclusion principles are set and applied across business lines.
• How participation and voice are organised between functions, entities, customers and communities.
• How non-product evidence, risk information and hardship realities are aggregated before strategic decisions.
• How public claims about trust, ESG, financial wellbeing or community impact are grounded in governance evidence.

The Governance Five™ Flow is:

• Govern – Clarify non-product principles and objectives (customer outcomes, fairness, financial inclusion, resilience, conduct and public value).
• Engage – Identify who must be heard before major non-product decisions – internal functions, customers, consumer advocates, regulators, partners, communities – and record how they are engaged.
• Aggregate – Bring together data, research, complaints, hardship insights, operational realities and risk information into a clear non-product basis for decisions.
• Deliver – Align governance frameworks, programs, customer journeys, disclosures and public statements with what was agreed in the Govern / Engage / Aggregate stages.
• Evolve – Use incidents, remediation work, regulatory feedback, audits and lived experience to adjust governance settings and document what changed and why.

This flow can be applied at the level of a group, brand, regulated entity, product family, program or distribution ecosystem. Product rules, licensing conditions and regulatory standards remain unchanged.

Governance Five™ © is concerned with how non-product decisions are structured, documented and traced – particularly when they affect:

• Customer outcomes and fairness – how commitments about fair treatment, accessibility and support are governed.
• Financial inclusion and hardship – how policies, programs and exceptions are decided and reviewed at a governance level.
• ESG, sustainability and social-impact narratives – how statements about impact, ethics or community support are grounded in evidence.
• Multi-entity ecosystems – how brands, platforms, intermediaries and third parties are reflected in governance and public claims.
• Trust repair and remediation – how organisations govern response to past failings and oversight findings.

In these settings, the Governance Five™ Flow – Govern → Engage → Aggregate → Deliver → Evolve™ © – offers a method-origin structure that can be licensed and applied without altering regulatory roles or obligations.

For banks and credit providers, Governance Five™ helps structure non-product governance for:

• customer outcome frameworks and conduct programs,
• financial inclusion initiatives and support for vulnerable customers,
• hardship, collections and restructuring approaches at governance level,
• public claims about financial wellbeing, resilience and trust rebuilding.

Credit decisions, pricing, risk-weighting and capital management remain governed by existing laws, prudential standards and internal frameworks. Governance Five™ focuses on the non-product governance that surrounds these activities.

Insurers, underwriters, intermediaries and claims managers can use Governance Five™ to govern how they:

• set and apply non-product principles around fairness and timely support,
• engage with policyholders, communities and advocates on hardship and catastrophe response,
• aggregate claims data, dispute themes and lived experience into governance forums,
• align marketing and ESG narratives with real-world claims and outcomes.

Product terms, underwriting, pricing, actuarial models and legal rights remain governed by contract and law. Governance Five™ does not alter those – it provides a method for the non-product governance that shapes how promises are honoured and communicated.

Funds and asset managers can apply Governance Five™ to non-product governance of:

• how “member best interest” or equivalent concepts are interpreted at governance level,
• how stewardship, ESG and engagement claims are structured and evidenced,
• how member communications about risk, volatility and long-term outcomes are aligned with internal governance pathways,
• how multi-manager, platform or outsourced arrangements are reflected in public-value narratives.

Investment decisions, portfolio construction and fiduciary duties remain the responsibility of boards, trustees and licensed professionals. Governance Five™ provides a governance method for non-product decision structure and public narrative.

Governance Five™ can help organisations govern:

• how vulnerability and hardship are defined, consulted and operationalised,
• how exception and escalation pathways are structured and reviewed,
• how stakeholder and frontline staff input informs governance,
• how public statements about inclusion and hardship support are kept aligned with actual practice.

It does not replace legal rights, product terms or dispute mechanisms. It strengthens the non-product governance layer above them.

Governance Five™ focuses on how non-product ESG and impact narratives are governed and evidenced, including:

• how commitments are linked to specific governance decisions and evidence sets,
• how cross-organisation contributions are coordinated and recorded,
• how limitations and trade-offs are acknowledged in governance records,
• how updates and corrections are fed back through the five stages.

It does not define ESG standards or regulatory rules; it provides a governance method to help financial institutions show that their non-product claims are traceable and auditable.

Boards, board committees, risk and compliance functions can use Governance Five™ as a lens for:

• testing whether key non-product decisions followed a traceable governance path,
• understanding who was engaged and how evidence was aggregated,
• linking public statements to internal governance records,
• structuring responses to systemic issues and regulator expectations at governance level.

It does not change directors’ duties, regulatory obligations or professional standards. It offers a method-origin governance flow that can be licensed and applied within those duties.

External and internal auditors, regulators and supervisors often ask how non-product decisions and public claims were reached. Governance Five™ can complement (not replace) existing standards by:

• making governance pathways for non-product decisions more visible and documented,
• showing connections between engagement, evidence and outcomes,
• providing a common method-origin frame for questions of traceability and lawful origin.

It does not replace prudential, conduct, audit or accounting standards. It provides a structured governance method that can be referenced where appropriate.

About its role

• “We use Governance Five™ © as a non-product governance framework to organise how decisions, participation and documentation are structured around our existing legal, regulatory and professional obligations.”
• “Governance Five™ helps us show the path from mandate to engagement, aggregation, delivery and learning for programs that affect customer outcomes, inclusion and trust.”
• “It is a licensed governance system, not financial or legal advice. It complements, but does not replace, our jurisdiction’s financial, prudential and conduct frameworks.”

About potential non-product benefits

• “Using Governance Five™ may improve visibility and traceability across multi-entity financial programs and initiatives.”
• “It can reduce ambiguity about who is involved, when and under what rules in non-product decisions that affect customers and communities.”
• “It helps align engagement, evidence and implementation so that non-product decisions are easier to explain to boards, auditors, regulators and the public.”

About boundaries

• “Governance Five™ does not provide financial, investment, tax, legal, actuarial or regulatory advice and does not alter statutory duties or licence conditions.”
• “Decisions of boards, licensed entities, regulators and courts remain the responsibility of the appropriate authorities under their governing frameworks.”

These examples are informational only and should always be reviewed by your own legal, financial, risk, compliance, audit and communications advisors before use.