Arun Kumar Tankala
Senior Technology Risk Manager
Bengaluru
Summary
Dynamic Senior Technology Risk and Operational Risk Leader with over 15 years of expertise in the Banking and Financial Services (BFSI) sector, specializing in Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC), Operational Risk, Cybersecurity Risk, and IT General Controls (ITGC). Led a team of over 10 professionals to coordinate risk management initiatives while fostering strong stakeholder alignment. Enhanced control environments, drove RCSA programs, and optimized technology cost structures, resulting in over $5 million in savings. Managed regulatory audits for MAS, HKMA, RBI, and SOX. Achieved a 40% reduction in operational risk exposure through effective implementation of 1LOD/2LOD operating models and cross-functional risk governance engagement.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
4
4
Certification
4
4
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Senior Manager – Technology Risk & Web Security
Standard Chartered Bank
12.2022 - Current
- Lead Technology Risk oversight for perimeter security infrastructure (WAF, DDoS, CDN, DNS) supporting global banking domains.
- Drive Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA) activities and control effectiveness reviews.
- Present risk exposure, control gaps, and remediation updates to governance forums and senior stakeholders.
- Act as a GRC champion, drives RBIA, S-BIA, Cloud governance, ICS controls, and cloud risk assessments.
- Conduct Third Party Risk Assessments (TPRM) during vendor onboarding including TPPA, TPSA (Third Party Security Assessment), TPCP (Third Party Contingency Plan), Exit Management Plan (EMP)
- Drive ERMF activities which are driven from top-level ensuring the bank is aligned with regulatory requirement across different BUs.
- Strengthened resilience posture through TTX and failover validation.
- As part of vendor onboarding, third party risk management evaluates Financial Due Diligence, Concentration risk, and 3rd party independent reports (SOC2, BCP, penetration testing) and vendor risk.
- Ensuring the inherent risk is addressed by applying the necessary remediation controls, so that residual risk is aligned under risk appetite.
- Led operational governance through weekly operational reviews with the vendor team and executive reporting
- Prepare and present Data Risk metrics, KRIs, and control effectiveness reporting to senior management governance forums.
- Line Of Business (LOB) – CCIB, CPBB, Technology & Architecture
- Implemented and developed operational standards, policies and procedures.
- Established strong relationships with clients and stakeholders, ensuring long-term partnerships and repeat business.
- Held monthly meetings to create business plans and workshops to drive successful business.
- Led cross-functional teams to achieve project milestones and deliver high-quality results.
- Reduced costs, optimized resource allocation, and improved efficiency in managing projects.
- Collaborated closely with peers from other departments to drive organizational success jointly as one cohesive unit.
- Mentored junior staff members for skill development and career progression within the organization.
- Achieved operational excellence by streamlining processes and implementing best practices.
- Consolidated vendors and renegotiated contracts to optimize costs.
- Implemented risk management framework, mitigating potential threats to project success and company operations.
- Championed process improvement initiatives that led to significant cost savings without compromising on quality standards.
Manager – Operational Risk & Production Governance
Standard Chartered Bank
01.2018 - 01.2022
- Owned End-to-End Operational Risk governance for Trade Finance, Custody & Retail Banking platforms.
- Reduced recurring incidents by 40% through thematic RCA, FMEA, and control redesign.
- Implemented automated Disaster Recovery (One-click DR) framework reducing RTO/RPO by 65%.
- Led Major Incident Governance (MIM), minimizing customer and regulatory impact.
- As part of Third-Party Risk management, ensure the cloud governance is met with all the controls aligned say architecture, resilience, technology governance, etc.
- Conduct Third Party Risk Assessments (TPRM) assessments to identify on data processing, data transit, and retention mechanism.
- Facilitated multi-regulatory audits with 100% timely closure of findings.
- Managed risk register, audit evidence repository, and issue remediation tracking.
- Ensured ITIL controls aligned to regulatory expectations (Change, Incident, Access, Release).
- Partnered with CIO, Risk, Audit and Compliance teams within 1LOD/2LOD structure.
- Line Of Business (LOB) – CCIB, CPBB, Technology & Architecture
- Cross-trained existing employees to maximize team agility and performance.
Technology Risk Manager
NatWest Markets (RBS)
01.2015 - 01.2018
- Managed ITGC compliance, audit walkthrough, and control evidence preparation.
- Reduced incident-related operational loss exposure by 25%.
- Third party risk management (TPRM) covering cloud risk, financial due diligence, sub-contractor risk, capability assessment, SOC2, ISO27001 certification, platform penetration testing areas
- TPRM also covering the availability, change process, access management, SLA, RTO/RPO, outsourcing regulations, termination and exit clauses in order forms/contractual agreements, contingency (Stressed/non-stressed exit).
- As part of TPRM, evaluate the subcontractor/vendor materiality.
- Led risk mitigation planning for EOL migration project saving $600K.
- Led SOX and regulatory audit coordination
- Line Of Business: CCIB
- Enhanced risk identification processes for early detection and mitigation of potential threats.
- Achieved regulatory compliance by ensuring adherence to industry standards and guidelines related to risk management.
- Conducted regular audits of existing policies and procedures, ensuring their continued effectiveness in addressing organizational goals related to mitigating risks.
- Fostered a culture of continuous improvement in risk management, encouraging feedback from employees to identify areas for enhancement.
- Partnered with IT department to assess and mitigate technology-related risks, safeguarding the organization''s digital assets and infrastructure.
- Reduced operational risks by implementing robust risk management strategies and procedures.
Risk Lead
Cognizant Technologies Solutions
12.2012 - 02.2015
- Delivered risk-managed production support for global banking platforms.
- Strengthened capacity management, DR testing, and control compliance.
- Reduced long-standing problem records by 15% through structured RCA.
- Developed strong relationships with internal stakeholders, promoting a culture of risk awareness and accountability.
- Developed short-term goals and long-term strategic plans to improve risk control and mitigation.
- Enhanced risk identification processes for early detection and mitigation of potential threats.
Education
Bachelor of Technology - Computer Science
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University
Hyderabad, India 07.2002 - 05.2006
Skills
Technology & Operational Risk Management
Risk Control Self-Assessment (RCSA)
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC)
Risk Management frameworks (ISO 27001, NIST SP 800 -53)
Incident Response & Security Escalations
Secure Product Lifecycle & End-of-Life (EOL) Controls
Enterprise Risk Management Framework
Secure Platform Architecture: WAF, DDoS, CDN, DNS
Regulatory Compliance & Audit (MAS, HKMA, RBI, SOX)
Issue & Action Plan Management
Third Party Risk Management (TPRM)
Cybersecurity Risk Governance
Business Continuity (BCP) & Resilience (DR)
Major Incident Governance
Accomplishments
- $8M+ cost optimization through risk-based vendor rationalization and eliminating the vendor lock-in.
- 40% operational incident reduction.
- Best Team Award – Secure Web Defence (T&A) - 2025
- Best Outstanding Delivery Award – SCB Anywhere (SDMZ) – 2025 as part of FFG program in efficiently handling the risk posture and strengthen with appropriate controls and cost save of $5M
- 65% DR recovery time improvement
- 80% zero-touch automation adoption
- Zero major regulatory audit findings
- Improved control maturity across multiple banking platforms
Certification
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner | Microsoft Azure Fundamentals | ITIL V3 | PRINCE2 | Professional Scrum Master (PSM-1) | (ISC)² Cybersecurity
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the information furnished above is true to the best of my knowledge.
Arun Kumar Tankala
Timeline
Senior Manager – Technology Risk & Web Security
Standard Chartered Bank
12.2022 - Current
Manager – Operational Risk & Production Governance
Standard Chartered Bank
01.2018 - 01.2022
Technology Risk Manager
NatWest Markets (RBS)
01.2015 - 01.2018
Risk Lead
Cognizant Technologies Solutions
12.2012 - 02.2015
Bachelor of Technology - Computer Science
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University
07.2002 - 05.2006