Simona Covaliu, FCCA

Simona Covaliu, FCCA, is the newly appointed Chief Risk Officer (CRO) at PayU GPO, a leading online payment service provider based in the Netherlands.13 She joined the company in July 2024, bringing over 18 years of experience in risk management and compliance.3

In her role at PayU GPO, Covaliu is responsible for:

1. Leading the second line compliance, risk, privacy, and security teams1
2. Overseeing four key pillars: privacy, security, compliance, and risk3
3. Providing greater transparency to support informed decision-making about product development3

Prior to joining PayU GPO, Covaliu held several notable positions:

1. VP of Risk and Compliance at Mambu13
2. Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Uber Payments12
3. Senior Risk Manager at Booking.com13

Covaliu's career began in auditing at Deloitte, focusing on financial entities. She then worked at LeasePlan, where she led a local risk team and eventually managed their global operational risk programme.4

Her LinkedIn username is simona-covaliu, as mentioned in the query.2

Covaliu is known for her curiosity and passion for risk management. She believes that risk management allows professionals to understand various aspects of an organization, as "risk is everywhere".4 Her approach emphasizes the importance of risk culture, stating that "a weak risk culture will eat any fancy risk management framework for breakfast".4