MY STORY
My name is Maria Lillie Sonne, and SONNE ADVICE is the alias for my freelance consultancy firm.
I am an experienced legal advisor, compliance officer, internal auditor and project manager. During the past 10 years I have gained extensive knowledge about multiple legal and compliance disciplines.
From positions in the financial sector (Nordea and Saxo Bank) as the Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Compliance Officer, Compliance Reporting Responsible and Internal Audit Manager, I am able to provide solid and pragmatic advice on inter alia effectiveness within compliance functions, financial crime compliance risks (AML, CFT, sanctions, ABC etc.), suitability, appropriateness and product governance frameworks (MiFID/MiFIR), personal account dealing, and conflict of interest (MAR).
I have also worked as a GDPR specialist, M&A project coordinator and cyber security external consultant (Kromann Reumert), and gained experience with intellectual property rights (IPR), trademarks and plant patents (Danish Patent and Trademark Office, Danish Agricultural Agency).
I graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen in 2013, and in my first job I worked as an in-house legal advisor focusing on company law, start-up investments (VC, PE), M&A, employment law, contracts etc. at a private investment company.
By contracting with me, you will get a personal, easy-going, plug-and-play consultant. I can navigate in high complexity matters and support you operating your business in a compliant and efficent way. With my positivism, energy and entrusting attitude I enable effective and constructive collaborations and finds pragmatic solutions, tailored to your business needs.
SERVICES
I will identify your compliance risks and prevent failure to comply with applicable regulations and related internal rules.
My in-depth knowledge about assessing adequacy of internal processes and controls helps identifying opportunities to strengthen effectiveness your operational setup.
I conduct thorough risk assessments to safeguard your business against potential threats and uncertainties.
With my experience from the Financial Sector working against financial crime I can help you identify and close compliance gaps.
Happy people creates happy results! Based on my experience as a Leader, I know how to enable people and grow their motivation to fulfill their potential for their own and the company's benefit.
The MiFID II regulation requires that financial instruments (products) are suitable and appropriate for the people who invest in such products. Do you want me to assess whether your customers (investors) have the knowledge and experience to invest in your products in line with their financial situation and investment goals?
The AML regulation requires that AML transaction monitoring processes and controls are in place to detect, mitigate and act upon suspiciousness, and report to the Financial Intelligence Unit. I have great experience in this field too, and I would love to share my insights.
How you manage data is key to ensure sustainable privacy and grow you business. I know how to built and maintain compliance framework to meet the regulatory requirements.
Products should deliver good customer outcome (value for money). I can help you securing that your product governance arrangements are fit-for-purose and aligned with regulatory requirements.
I know how to create effective compliance processes and controls to manage and mitigate sanctions by inter alia customer/supplier due diligence, transaction monitoring and ongoing risk assessments.
Are you convinced about who your customer is? This question can be quit complex to ask especially if you are contracting with a company with an intransparent ownership structure....
Regardless of the size of your project I will be able to take lead and ensure that challenges are transformed into milestones that will bring the goal of the project to success.
I know how to ensure that your intra-group outsourcing arrangements meet the same requirements as outsourcing to an external third party.
A robust data governance framework is key for making data work for your success and business objectives. I am able to strengthen controls around data management to built up high data quality throughout the complete lifecycle of your data assets.
The regulators expect that your employees knows what they are doing and why. Within the AML regulation it is even a requirement that your employees' integrity is being tested. Targeted training is sometimes needed whereas more generic training for some is enough.
I offer expert guidance tailored to your needs to ensure your success and satisfaction with my consulting services.
I provide custom solutions designed to address your specific challenges and opportunities for optimal outcomes.
I deliver dedicated support throughout our partnership, prioritizing your goals and always being available to assist you.
My prices are transparent and I will always specify what you are paying for.
Depending on the case and project my hourly net rate varies from 650 kr. to 2.000 kr.
For example, if you hire me for a 6 months full-time project, my hourly salary is deducted proportionate with the fixed income secureness you are offering me. Whereas, if I support you as an in-house legal service whenever an ad-hoc task arrives, I will ask you to pay a higher price for me to take on the extraordinary task with a promise to deliver within a short period of time.
Travel expenses
On-site visits may be beneficial for both of us and we will agree on how to manage travel expenses as part of the contract.
Insurance
I am contracting with IF Insurance to safeguard myself and my clients against unforeseen events:
www.if.dk
CVR-24203212
Nordea hired me as an external consultant for 6 months to strengthen their governance framework for Intra-Group Outsourcing and Service Level Agreements within Group Financial Crime Prevention, and to support the Nordea Finance remediation project on the closing of orders received from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority. While doing so, I worked closely with the cross cababilities teams, and acted as a project lead on behalf of the Financial Crime Business Advisory team. I kept stakeholders closely informed on continuous milestone developments and changes (RAG status), and connected deliveries with relevant service level measures (KPIs) and management information (MI) reporting. Based on my assessment of the control design and operational effectiveness, I provided advice on how to strengthen the governance framework including roles, responsibilities and accountabilities (RASIC matrix) for their Inter-Group Agreements (IGA) and Service Level Agreement (SLA) processes and controls to comply with regulatory requirements, and reduce the risk of people getting stressed and demotivated by rigid and illogic work routines and inadequate tools. I also supported the development of a new contract lifecycle management power-app tool to make the contracting process work more effective and mitigate the risk of manual errors. As the tool was created based on in-house IT systems and resources, the risk of 3rd party vendor dependencies was mitigated successfully and ensured system maintainance availability at all time, and provided that the data governance setup became transparent.
#Outsourcing #Intra-Group Agreements #Compliance #Financial Crime Prevention #Governance #Data Quality
Legal Up
Legal Up works as a digital legal department for companies. As a Partner with Legal Up, you can book me digitally at www.legalup.dk to solve your tasks within 24 hours.
Academic Work
You can recruit me as a interim consultant by contracting with Academic Work. They are an internal recruitment company specialised in recruitment of talents and young professionals. Read more at www.academicwork.dk
Moment
Moment is a temporary staff and recruitment agency with the main task to match capable candidates like me with attractive companies around the country.
Find out more at www.moment.dk
RESOLVA
By contracting with RESOLVA you can hire me as a "Resolver" which is another word for a legal and compliance external consultant. Learn more at www.resolvalaw.com
Ework Group
I am assigned to Ework Group as an independent professional consultant. They connect people like me with companies who need support for a short or longer time period: www.eworkgroup.com/da
UNIQUE APPROACH
I take a personal and authentic approach to understanding your business to provide tailored solutions that align with your expectations.
With me, you can expect dedicated one-on-one consultations focused on developing successful solutions in a sustainable way. I will work closely together with you and your team towards your business objectives.
Orderliness, Honesty and Generosity. I believe in the greater good, and that true success is built upon trust and partnership, combined with a commitment to make a positive difference for a sustainable future without compromising ethical values. If we stay compliant, invest in people's well-being and do the right thing, our positive investments and efforts will always be returned.
My aspiration to work with law, compliance and management as a self-employed freelance consultant grows from a passion for helping people and their business to thrive and make a positive difference in society. This dream began already when I graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen in 2013.
I knew that I had to built-up practical experience and take my battles in the real world in order to offer my future clients valuable advice: From 2013 to 2024, I worked in various legal and compliance positions such as in-house legal advisor, project coordinator, compliance officer, internal audit manager and team leader within the Public, Private and Financial Sector. I stayed in my positions for 1-3 years to built up both specialised and general knowledge within various disciplines and gained practical insights on how to run a business in a compliant way, and ensure that people stay motivated to do their best.
On the personal side, I am a Bornholmer living in Nivå near the sea and nature together with my husband Peter and our twins, Asger and Solveig. I take care of myself in a holistic way by staying in good physical shape with early 5 o'clock morning jogging outside in the fresh air or an online yoga class. I am conscious about what I eat and drink to give my body and brain the best nutrition in a balanced way, but I appreciate a nice glass of wine too.
I love spontanious parties...
I practice meditation and mindfulness to give my mental health the best growth opportunities. Basically, my brain is my source of income so better keep that one in a good shape! I have a spiritual side growing more and more inside of me which I keep seeking deeper into to widen my consciousness. This really kicked-off in 2023-2024 when I joined Rikke Hertz Councelling and her Spiritual Leadership Education. The learnings and insights I was given changed my life, and actually gave me the courage to stand-up on my own as I do now, and let my soul be the CEO of my life.
Now you know me, and I look forward knowing you.
With me as your personal consultant you get the full me, and based on my personal background and professional experience from working in various industries, combined with my strong social skills, I am offering you unique, expert guidance and support tailored to your individual needs.
My SONNE ADVICE consultancy stands as a trusted partner for people and companies seeking growth and efficiency where risks are managed adequately. Through personalized advice and unwavering dedication to support in a constructive way, I continue to count successful stories.
I am reliable, proactive, able to work independently and understands complex items for the purpose to simplify them.
But most importantly, I am me and knows what I stand for.
ABOUT ME
With over a decade of experience in the Public, Private and Financial Sector, my authentic approach ensures personalized solutions on risk and compliance challenges.
By combining the legal, compliance and internal auditor methodologies I am able to support your business and run your change projects from a 360-angle and find effective operational solutions.
I have an honest interest in understanding you and your business.
GET IN TOUCH
CVR-35987444
