Strategic Governance as a Service · Principal-Led · Adversarial by Design
We Simulate Failure
So Leaders Don't Have to
Experience It
Governance advisory built on adversarial challenge, simulation and evidential stress-testing
New research · May 2026
More governance has not produced better governance
Governance spending has never been higher; failure rates have not fallen. Between 2018 and 2024, 32% of listed companies suffered a severe corporate crisis, four-fifths driven by strategy and risk rather than compliance. Our 90-page paper identifies the three structural defects responsible, evidenced through case studies, decision-theory research, and regulatory mapping across three jurisdictions, and presents the structural response: Strategic Governance as a Service.
Read the white paper →PROVISION 29 READINESS
The declaration lands in 2027.
The evidence has to exist in 2026.
1 January 2026
Provision 29 of the 2024 Code applies to financial years beginning on or after this date. The board must state whether material internal controls were effective at the balance sheet date.
A judgement the board owns
The FRC expects directors to reach independent conclusions on control effectiveness. That judgement cannot be delegated to management, internal audit, or external consultants.
Your auditor cannot help you sign
Independence rules restrict the firm that audits the accounts from building the board's assurance behind them. The challenge the signature rests on has to come from outside both relationships.
What the signature needs is documented, defensible evidence of independent challenge, built across the year rather than assembled at its end.
The Marentis Difference
Adversarial Analysis
Our Red Team approach subjects every governance assumption to rigorous, dispassionate challenge, revealing hidden fragilities before they surface in a boardroom or regulator examination.
Financial Services Rigour
Governance frameworks developed inside Tier 1 global investment banks, now applied across every sector. Twenty years at the top of institutional finance, not generic consulting methodology.
Principal-Led Engagement
Clients receive board-level CRO expertise directly, with no handoff to junior teams. Our approach is not a traditional leveraged consulting model.
Service Architecture
Strategic Governance as a Service
Four engagement configurations designed around the depth of governance challenge your organisation faces. Every tier embeds our adversarial methodology as standard. New to the model? Read the SGaaS definition →
Diagnostic SGaaS
Governance Architecture Assessment
A structured, adversarial assessment of the organisation's governance architecture — identifying structural defects, value gaps, and capability shortfalls. The low-risk entry point for boards that recognise the governance gap but want evidence before committing to ongoing engagement.
Retained SGaaS
Continuous Adversarial Governance Challenge
Continuous, adversarial governance challenge delivered on an annual retainer across board cycles. Governance Pulse Reports, Board Challenge Memos, and Pre-Mortem Diagnostics deployed at strategic inflections. The core SGaaS offering.
Embedded SGaaS
Permanent Board-Level Challenge Function
Permanent board-level presence as a contracted Independent Board Observer or Mandated Advisor, with contractual challenge authority. The principal does not take a directorial appointment — a deliberate design choice that preserves the independence on which the challenge function depends.
Pre-Exit SGaaS
Exit-Aligned Governance
Governance uplift and exit-readiness assessment for PE portfolio companies in the 12–18 months before a sale, IPO, or other liquidity event. Structured to make governance a positive exit narrative, not a diligence liability.
Owen Vallis · Founder & Principal
20 Years. One Principal. Every Engagement.
Twenty years governance experience across Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and as Group Chief Risk Officer for SICO Bank. Simultaneously active as a Board Chair and Non-Executive Director. A rare and highly sought after governance advisor who brings that combination to every engagement personally.
Credit Suisse · J.P. Morgan · Morgan Stanley · SICO Bank
Group Chief Risk Officer · £50bn+ AUM · Basel III implementation
Active Prospects · Children's Commissioner · EdAct Trust
Board Chair (revenue grew 3.4x, £6.5m to £22m); former statutory-body NED (Children's Commissioner, 2016–2020)
FCA · PRA · FINMA · CSSF · CBB · SCA
Multi-jurisdictional regulatory depth across the UK, Europe, Switzerland and the GCC
In Practice
Illustrative Engagements
Constructed scenarios showing how each tier operates: the situation, the method, and the position it is designed to leave the board in. Client engagements stay confidential, so we publish illustrations instead.
Diagnostic to Embedded SGaaS: an FCA-Regulated Insurer
Three legacy risk committees, a supervisory letter, and a 90-day window. A four-week Diagnostic maps the gaps; an Embedded rebuild produces an architecture the board can defend.
Read the illustration →Retained SGaaS: a Listed UK Mid-Cap
A new audit committee chair faces the Provision 29 declaration. A continuous retainer builds the year of minuted independent challenge the board signs against.
Read the illustration →Pre-Exit SGaaS: a PE-Backed Business Services Group
Twelve to eighteen months before a planned sale, the engagement removes the findings a buyer's diligence team would otherwise price against.
Read the illustration →Ready to Begin?
Challenge your most critical governance assumptions.
We work with boards and C-suite teams that cannot afford to discover governance failures the hard way. Principal response within 24 hours.
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