Dominik’s passion for public policy predates his career with Oliver Wyman. “I studied Politics, Philosophy, and Economics for my Bachelor’s degree and International Affairs for my Master’s, and then gathered work experience with a couple of international think tanks, as well as multilateral institutions such as the African Development Bank and United Nations,” he says. “When I joined Oliver Wyman in 2001, the firm was not active in the area of public policy – at least not in any consistent way.”
My ambition is to be part of a team that public policymakers turn to in order to crack their toughest and most sensitive problems
A few years in, Dominik had the opportunity to advise the Ministry of Finance of a fast-growing Middle Eastern country on its financial services strategy. “That was an inflection point for my career at Oliver Wyman and opened a path I have pursued ever since,” says Dominik. “With the onset of the Great Financial Crisis in 2009-2010, the firm recognized the value of formalizing our public policy offering. And a decade later, the Public Sector & Policy advisory practice had become a major business within the firm’s portfolio.”
Dominik advises clients – typically ministries of finance, central banks, financial-services regulators, or other government agencies – on how to set and deliver effective public policy objectives related to financial services and net zero. “My support can be about defining the objectives, translating them into policy, handling trade-offs, or building the capabilities (people, processes, or systems) to effectively implement policy.” He recently advised the Global Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) Workstream on Mobilizing Capital to Emerging Markets and Developing Economies.
Decision-makers tend turn to him for help with their toughest and most sensitive problems. “For instance, when a central bank client was being pressured by the government to amend regulations in order to stimulate financial-services activity and attract foreign players, we pulled together the analysis that showed that such measures were in fact unnecessary and might backfire down the road,” he says.
Certainly, there’s no shortage of challenges facing governments and other public institutions in the wake of the pandemic. “With skyrocketing unemployment and lots of business failures, a ministry of finance recently turned to us to help them better understand their fiscal constraints in the wake of COVID-19,” Dominik says. “We were able to provide them with a fact-based assessment of their options for a stimulus and economic recovery plan, so that the cabinet could then converge around a strategy.”
Dominik is as passionate about this work now as he was back in 2009: “I love the thrill of the intellectual challenge and satisfaction of helping my clients delivery better policy!”