The Metro team talk: Chris Williams

Trade and Customs Compliance Manager, Chris Williams, joined Metro in 2019, bringing with him over 30 years of international trade compliance and customs experience, gained with multi-national and national businesses at global and local levels.

Chris’ detailed knowledge of global import and export procedures, legislation and prohibitions, provides the foundation for the development, implementation and maintenance of Metro’s compliant trade policies and strategies.

Chris has also overseen the design and implementation of customs control processes to obtain AEO accreditation in the UK three times, including the implementation of automated programmes for the completion and retention of Customs declarations. This is particularly relevant to impending Brexit requirements.

The focal point for Metro’s interaction with UK, EU and global customs authorities, Chris provides fiscal and compliance guidance and training, to internal and external stakeholders.

His experience in automating declarations and strategic HMRC engagement has made Chris an invaluable member of Metro’s Brexit Task Team, leading the development of the ‘Brexit-Proof’ platform, ensuring regulatory compliance and delivering maximum value to Metro’s customers.

Pivotal to the successful creation of Metro’s ‘Brexit-Proof’ platform has been Chris’ ability to re-engineer complex supply chains and mitigate risk, while designing compliance processes that utilise available customs simplifications.

Chris designed the simple ‘Brexit-Proof’ compliance assessments, audits and due diligence reviews that form the basis of individual client solutions.

Working with historic client data on European imports and exports, Chris and the Brexit Task Team cover risk, regulatory, compliance and security issues in their supply chain health check, to ensure that import and export processing is in line with business needs and objectives.

In releasing public-domain trading data and completing a short questionnaire Metro clients get their own bespoke ‘Brexit-Proof’ solution providing:

• Secure, cloud-based solutions
• Complete peace of mind on 1st January 2021
• UK and EU Customs compliance to avoid delays
• The right HMRC regime(s) for your needs
• Real-time visibility, control and intelligence
• Fiscal forecasting and reporting to aid cashflow management