Harish Bajaj
Bengaluru
Summary
Financial Crime Operations leader with 13 years managing AML transaction monitoring, KYC/CDD/EDD, and sanctions screening teams across banking and payments. Proven people leader with a track record of coaching and developing analysts, managing performance and quality outcomes, and driving process improvement in high-volume, high-risk operations. Serves as SME on sanctions typologies, screening (OFAC/UN/EU/UK HMT), and AML/KYC risk indicators, with hands-on experience resolving complex escalations, running quality reviews, and communicating clearly with stakeholders across governance forums. Comfortable operating with autonomy in fast-paced, regulation-driven environments. MBA-qualified, CAMS (Pursuing).
Overview
1
1
Certification
13
13
years of professional experience
Work History
Assistant Manager – Operations
WNS Global Services
Bangalore
01.2025 - 07.2026
- Led and coached a Financial Crime Compliance team delivering AML transaction monitoring, KYC/EDD, and sanctions screening, fostering a high-performance, accountability-driven culture within a governed regulatory environment.
- Owned team performance management: set KPI targets, ran regular one-on-ones and quality coaching sessions, addressed underperformance through documented improvement plans, and drove measurable gains in productivity and case quality.
- Served as SME for sanctions typologies, KYC risk indicators, and SAR/STR reporting; recommended and implemented screening-rule enhancements against OFAC, UN, EU, and UK HMT lists, reducing false positives while preserving detection quality.
- Managed high-risk case escalations end-to-end, providing guidance on complex decisions and ensuring timely, well-documented resolution in line with policy and regulatory expectations.
- Stabilized a newly onboarded AML/SAR operations team by clearing backlogs, improving quality scores, and deploying scalable escalation logs and screening dashboards.
- Drove process transformation by building a Python-based AML alert triage tool and automated SQL dashboards, reducing manual effort and improving alert turnaround and team efficiency.
- Represented the team in governance forums with senior stakeholders, producing MIS reports on SLA performance and regulatory priorities to support cross-functional decision-making.
Compliance Analyst – Third-Party Risk
ChampionX
Chennai
05.2023 - 09.2024
- Conducted enhanced due diligence, PEP, adverse media, and sanctions screening (LexisNexis, Dow Jones, Nexis Diligence) for global portfolio, identifying sanctions risk and informing risk mitigation strategies.
- Produced risk assessment reports with ratings and mitigation actions for senior stakeholders, enhancing risk awareness across the firm and facilitating informed decision-making.
- Led platform migration from Securimate to Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, ensuring data integrity and audit traceability during transition to minimise operational disruption.
Compliance Specialist I – AML & Payments Risk
PayPal
Bangalore
05.2016 - 04.2023
- Conducted global AML investigations on high-volume transactions, identifying sanctions exposure and suspicious activity requiring SAR/STR filing, processing all cases within agreed TAT with zero error.
- Managed sanctions screening for real-time and batch transactions, escalating true-hits against OFAC, UN, EU, and international watch-lists in line with policy and referral protocols.
- Coordinated high-risk escalations with legal, risk, and product teams, preparing evidence packs for audits to streamline regulatory reviews.
- Delivered training on AML typologies and sanctions procedures, enhancing analyst knowledge and supporting governance initiatives ahead of regulatory exams.
Incident Handler – KYC & AML Compliance
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
Chennai
04.2013 - 11.2015
- Validated KYC documentation packages and conducted AML compliance checks for audit activities, ensuring 100% accuracy against quality and TAT benchmarks.
- Developed in-depth expertise in KYC control environment and global banking regulatory requirements, enhancing compliance readiness.
Education
MBA -
University of Madras
Chennai01-2012
B.Com -
Jai Narayan Vyas University
Jodhpur01-2010
Skills
- Team Leadership & Coaching
- Performance & KPI Management
- Sanctions Screening (OFAC/UN/EU/UK HMT)
- KYC/CDD/EDD Due Diligence
- AML Transaction Monitoring
- Quality Assurance & Case Review
- Escalation & Issue Management
- Stakeholder & Client Management
- SAR/STR Reporting
- Process Improvement & Re-engineering
- Financial Crime Risk Management
- Regulatory Compliance & Policy Adherence
Certification
- CAMS (Pursuing)
Timeline
Assistant Manager – Operations
WNS Global Services
01.2025 - 07.2026
Compliance Analyst – Third-Party Risk
ChampionX
05.2023 - 09.2024
Compliance Specialist I – AML & Payments Risk
PayPal
05.2016 - 04.2023
Incident Handler – KYC & AML Compliance
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)
04.2013 - 11.2015
MBA -
University of Madras
B.Com -
Jai Narayan Vyas University