Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Accomplishments
Personaltrivia
Extracurricular Activities
Hobbies and Interests
Training
Languages
Timeline
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Bhuvaneswari Lakshman

Hyderabad

Summary

A goal-oriented professional with expertise in developing and implementing Group Risk Management strategies and infrastructures, I have diligently monitored and tracked risks on a monthly basis. Skilled in managing both operational and non-financial risks, I have identified potential issues and proposed actions for board and senior executive consideration. As a visionary thinker, change manager, and risk-taker, I possess an entrepreneurial spirit and have garnered experience across various business lines within banking institutions, now seeking challenging and rewarding opportunities in Risk & Compliance Management.

With 23 years of extensive experience in banking, including over 11 years in Business Risk, Compliance, control testing, and Quality Assurance, and 12 years across various other domains, I am in pursuit of a challenging environment that fosters both personal and professional growth. As a highly motivated individual with a breadth of experience in multiple verticals, I am an excellent communicator with a solid track record of success in Operational Risk, Project Management, Underwriting, team leadership, and Quality Assurance. I serve as a liaison between senior business stakeholders, managing essential communications and bridging gaps. A visionary leader, I have steered numerous critical strategic and regulatory projects to successful, timely completion with high standards. My strong leadership is complemented by adept conflict management and negotiation skills. Proficient in internal control reviews, I have implemented various corrective actions, including those required by regulatory bodies. I am skilled in conducting comprehensive reviews of risks and controls using diverse testing methodologies. My constant drive to enhance and improve work processes is a direct result of the quality assurance performed on testing and assurance activities, contributing significantly to process streamlining and efficiency building. My excellence in project execution has led to financial savings, resource optimization, and increased productivity.

Overview

23
23
years of professional experience

Work History

Senior Lead Operational Risk Officer

Wells Fargo EGS (IND) Pvt Ltd
Hyderabad
06.2023 - Current

In my role as Senior Lead Operational Risk Officer, I provided support to the COO and the Consumer Lending Line of Business through operational risk oversight. I ensured compliance with internal controls and regulatory requirements in risk management processes. I evaluated and recommended updates to risk management policies and procedures when necessary. I conducted risk assessments to identify and evaluate potential threats to the organization's operations, personnel, assets, and reputation. I collaborated with various departments to address risk issues swiftly. I advised on the best practices for risk mitigation and facilitated their implementation. I regularly reviewed the effectiveness of risk control measures by analyzing key performance indicators. I led training sessions for staff on proper risk identification, assessment, and mitigation techniques. I established efficient communication channels across departments for sharing updates on policy or procedural changes that affect risk levels. I documented and communicated key risks, proposing strategies for their mitigation. I also created and delivered regular reports to senior management regarding operational activities and progress.

Lead Control Testing Officer

Wells Fargo EGS IND Pvt Ltd
08.2021 - 06.2023
  • As the Lead Independent Testing Officer, I oversee a team of 4-5 members, guiding them through the review process. My responsibilities encompass the entire review cycle, including planning, execution, issue identification, and reporting. Continuous monitoring, oversight, guidance, quality checking, and assurance are integral to my role. I also perform cross-quality checks and assurance for the team's reviews, contribute to QA projects by ensuring quality throughout the review lifecycle, and propose process improvement strategies. Additionally, I mentor team members on control design, issue validation, and report writing. I clarify the methodology for identifying relevant citations, instruct on various testing approaches and their selection rationale, and share best practices with the broader team.

Assistant Vice President Assurance

HSBC (HDPI)
09.2017 - 08.2021
  • As the Test Assignment Lead, I was responsible for crafting the Terms of Reference, engaging with stakeholders, tracking progress, disseminating weekly dashboards on advancements and potential hurdles, and composing the final review reports. After meetings with various stakeholders, I planned and defined regulatory and internal controls. I successfully led multiple Assurance reviews, encompassing Regulatory controls (Sox, US Compliance Detailed Self-Assessment controls), and Internal controls across different regions, by steering a team of 15-20 members within the set deadlines. I created user guide manuals, checklists, and templates to train new employees and ensure the quality of control reviews. I coached the testers to foster better collaboration with the control owners to adhere to the review schedule. I conducted escalation meetings with stakeholders to clarify, educate, and raise awareness about the identified gaps from the reviews, and to gain agreement on the observations. I maintained proper governance and oversight of the reviews by reporting the evaluation progress to senior management via MI dashboards, which highlighted risk trends and patterns of observations. I informed the Control owners about the identified deficiencies and the implementation of corrective plans to fortify the control framework. I spearheaded innovation initiatives and applied emerging themes to enhance internal processes, thereby improving engagement and the review experience. I carried out a survey to gauge the challenges and overall sentiment from the start to the end of a review. I presented an analysis of 'lessons learned' to senior management, pinpointing overarching themes and authored a paper on the 'Assurance Credits' process, detailing the background and purpose of the procedure for use during Assurance reviews.

Manager - Assurance Testing

HSBC HDPI
09.2017 - 07.2018

Manager - Business Risk and Control Manager CRE

HSBC (HDPI)
03.2014 - 09.2017
  • Conducted Risk scoping activities and creation of Risk and Control Assessments(RCA) on Ops Risk system of records, As regional support for the Asia Pacific and the Middle East regions for Corporate Real Estate (CRE) countries, was responsible for conducting the RCA, creating Incidents, Issues, Actions, and monitor them for timely closure, Executed Risk Scoping, Assessment of Risks & Controls, Process Gap Analysis, defined KPI's for Risk and controls, monitored Path to Green Issues, guided risk acceptance and dispensations for effective risk management across functions and Line of Business processes, Conducted sessions to Regional leads and country coordinators on 'Data quality exceptions' and provided solutions, Responsible for preparing monthly Risk dashboards for 63 countries showcasing risks, controls, issues, remediation's, risk acceptances, and dispensation landscape presented in the Risk Management Meetings (Governance meetings), Responsible for governance of Third-party security reviews, Information Security Risk (ISR) findings, open issues and follow up on closures, exceptions on Share Points hosting restricted information, incidents reporting across Global CRE in the capacity of manager of the Global CRE Business Information Risk Officer (BIRO) team, Oversaw the BIRO activities by effectively facilitating bi-monthly meetings involving all BIRO / DBIRO's from countries across regions to discuss the open issues and follow-up actions taken for mitigating potential Risk identified, Issued a monthly bulletin on summary of changes to Ops Risk Framework, identified the impact of the change of the procedures, and its applicability to CRE
  • Communicated to the wider CRE Community to ensure adherence to the new changes for compliance

Regional Credit manager

HSBC (HDPI)
05.2012 - 03.2014
  • Executed underwriting of Retail loans, Vehicle loans, and Credit cards for UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar countries and are within the prescribed risk thresholds, Ensured exceptional approvals for loans and credit cards being within the risk appetite
  • Demonstrated sound knowledge of the credit policies, Central bank guidelines, and the Middle East's respective countries' regulations reflected through the accounts' good performance with no delinquencies, Submitted monthly MI with details of the exceptional approvals of accounts approved product-wise per country to the business partner monthly to help the branches/ Sales team meet their sales targets, Conducted Quality assurance for the team members on the transactions processed, Trained the team on the process post remigration to another GSC location

Assistant Manager Operations

HSBC (HDPI)
11.2006 - 05.2012
  • Transitioned Retail loans, Process from onshore location (Brunei) to GSC location
  • Onboarded new team members in the GSC, trained them on the process to BAU, Led a team of 8 members in process re-engineering resulting in financial saves of USD 39k
  • Three team members had completed 4 Yellow belt projects
  • Another short-term assignment with a team of 8 members dealing with the correction of Professional Studies loan payment schedules was completed ahead of timelines, Demonstrated leadership skills by coaching and mentoring a team of 20 members by encouraging them to perform with efficiency and excellence
  • Helped my team members to achieve their career goals
  • Four of my directs were promoted to team managers

Supervisor

06.2001 - 11.2006
  • Proficient in subject expertise, a process specialist and process trainer
  • Quick learner, was cross trained on other processes
  • Trained the new joiners and cross-trained staff from other teams, Quality checking of various processes for the department, conduct quality initiatives resulting in process efficiency, Team management and monitoring the performance of the trainees / new joiners by closely coordinating with the Line manager

Education

Bachelor of Science -

Osmania University

Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching -

Andhra Mahila Sabha, Osmania University

Skills

  • Operational Risk Management
  • Business Risk and Control Management
  • People management / Performance management
  • Quality Assurance
  • Robust process documentation
  • Risk Reporting for Governance meetings
  • Audit Report writing
  • Credit Underwriting (Retail services)
  • Process Training
  • User Guides / SOP/Checklists
  • Financial saves through Six Sigma projects
  • Project Management
  • Operations Management
  • Team Leadership
  • Verbal and written communication
  • Complex Problem-Solving
  • Performance Evaluations
  • Cross-functional team management

Accomplishments

  • Awarded "Quality Star" by Line of Business for excellence in Quality initiatives and saves
  • Six Sigma certified. Financial saves through 4 projects resulting in USD 100k

Personaltrivia

A goal-oriented professional with expertise in developing the Group Risk Management strategy and implementing a supporting infrastructure; monitored and tracked risks monthly. Capabilities in managing operational and non-financial risks; identifying risks, proposing & monitoring actions to be taken by the board and senior executives. Visionary Thinker, Change Manager & Risk Taker with entrepreneurial drive with experience in various lines of businesses in banking institution; targeting challenging & rewarding opportunities in Risk & Compliance Management.

Extracurricular Activities

Actively participated in CSR initiatives. Participated in the initiative to serving nutritious food for the high school children before the Board exams in Madhapur Mandal school Participated in the planting of trees as part of celebrating Environment day Participated in "Plogging" activity, an initiative to propagate reduction in plastic usage and the dangers caused due to improper disposal of plastic items. A regular participant of Walkathon – 7 km walk of KBR park to raise funds to donate the construction of Madhapur Mandal school Participated in Walkathon for creating awareness on Organ donation

Hobbies and Interests

  • Actively participated in Pulse Polio eradication initiative and managed the booth, and administered polio drops to children in my locality
  • Volunteered for awareness meetings on Organ donation conducted by MOHAN Foundation, a Not for profit organization.

Training

  • Trained on ePMO methodologies such as Project Journeys (Agile, Waterfall), Finance management, Risk management, Milestones, Status reporting, Dependency management, change management and usage of tools Jira, Clarity and Confluence.
  • Enhanced and enriched my soft skills by signing up for trainings in topics such as Leadership essentials, Curiosity, Design Mindset, Creativity Skills for future readiness.
  • Certified Recruiter to undertake recruitments in the department, by attending the recruitment training on "Hiring essentials"

Languages

  • English
  • Hindi
  • Tamil
  • Telugu

Timeline

Senior Lead Operational Risk Officer

Wells Fargo EGS (IND) Pvt Ltd
06.2023 - Current

Lead Control Testing Officer

Wells Fargo EGS IND Pvt Ltd
08.2021 - 06.2023

Assistant Vice President Assurance

HSBC (HDPI)
09.2017 - 08.2021

Manager - Assurance Testing

HSBC HDPI
09.2017 - 07.2018

Manager - Business Risk and Control Manager CRE

HSBC (HDPI)
03.2014 - 09.2017

Regional Credit manager

HSBC (HDPI)
05.2012 - 03.2014

Assistant Manager Operations

HSBC (HDPI)
11.2006 - 05.2012

Supervisor

06.2001 - 11.2006

Bachelor of Science -

Osmania University

Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching -

Andhra Mahila Sabha, Osmania University
Bhuvaneswari Lakshman