Spotlight: Terry Dawson, VP of Product at Encompass

When Terry Dawson joined Encompass as VP of Product, he stepped into a pivotal role at the heart of banking transformation.

With over two decades in product and technology roles, Terry brings a pragmatic focus on innovation and collaboration. Qualities he believes are essential to solving some of the most persistent challenges in Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

After three months in the role, Terry shared his reflections on the complexity of KYC today. The opportunities ahead, and why he believes Corporate Digital Identity (CDI) and perpetual KYC (pKYC) are critical to the next chapter of compliance.

Early reflections: complexity, effort, and opportunity

Terry’s first impression was the scale of manual effort still required for KYC. “I knew how complex evidence gathering was, but the amount of duplication and rework that continues to exist, even in global banks, has been striking. Institutions are making progress, but legacy technology and fragmented processes still weigh heavily.”

What has encouraged him most is how well Encompass’ platform aligns with these challenges.

Our ability to structure data from multiple trusted sources, combine it with secure outreach, and provide explainability gives banks the confidence they need. And what stands out is how committed our clients are to working with us to solve these issues at scale.

For Terry, the biggest opportunity is not just faster onboarding, it is about strengthening the data foundations of compliance. When banks say they ‘know’ a client, that knowledge must be current, explainable, and complete. That is where Encompass can make a real difference.

The role of product: scale, resilience, and adoption

Terry describes his product mandate in three words: scale, resilience, and adoption.

• Scale: Financial crime is global, and banks need solutions that work consistently across jurisdictions, products, and business lines.
• Resilience: Compliance processes must withstand regulatory scrutiny and second-line challenge, supported by clear, defensible audit trails
• Adoption: The best solutions help KYC analysts to complete tasks faster and with less friction, while giving managers and process owners the visibility they need to speed up onboarding and reduce risk. Adoption happens when tools are practical, intuitive, and even enjoyable to use day-to-day.

AI as a catalyst for compliance teams

AI has become a core topic for every product leader, but Terry is careful to stress that it must be applied responsibly. “In KYC and AML, explainability and auditability are non-negotiable. AI is not about replacing people, it is about amplifying their expertise, cutting away the repetitive work so they can focus on judgment.”

Encompass is already applying AI to:

• Onboard new data sources more efficiently
• Help product teams express requirements clearly
• Support developers in writing and testing code faster
• Streamline outreach to reduce duplication across banks

“The goal is not automation for its own sake. It is about targeted acceleration, freeing compliance teams to focus on judgment, not data wrangling.”

Corporate Digital Identity: building the future

For Terry, CDI is a game-changer. It is more than a technical solution. Corporate Digital Identity is a dynamic profile, continuously updated, validated from trusted sources, and enriched through secure client engagement. It gives banks confidence in who they are dealing with, reduces duplication for corporates, and builds the foundation for frictionless compliance.

This foundation is also what makes perpetual KYC (pKYC) possible. “Periodic refreshes will always feel like boiling the ocean. With CDI in place, banks can move to a model where reviews are triggered by meaningful changes, not arbitrary schedules. That is how pKYC becomes real.”

Collaboration at the core

Collaboration with clients is central to Encompass’ approach as far as Terry is concerned. “The best products are shaped with, not just for, their users. Our advisory boards, roundtables, and beta programs ensure that what we build reflects real-world needs. That is how we make CDI and pKYC not just concepts, but practical solutions that can be adopted at scale.”

Looking ahead

In the next 12 months, Terry is focused on:

• Expanding CDI coverage to address complex structures such as funds and advisors
• Delivering seamless and secure outreach transformation
• Operationalizing AI in explainable, high-value use cases
• Building a partner ecosystem to strengthen identity verification and data coverage

The vision is clear: Encompass is here to help banks fight financial crime more effectively, meet their regulatory obligations with confidence, and serve their clients with less friction. If we can simplify processes and enable faster, more confident decisions, we are delivering on that mission.