MEENAKSHI SANKARAN
Chennai
Summary
Global transformation leader with 25 years of experience driving enterprise-scale change across Corporate & Institutional Banking. Expert in Wholesale Lending, Payments, Liquidity, and Trade Finance, with a proven record of delivering $190M+ portfolios, modernizing enterprise platforms, and achieving measurable P&L impact. Trusted advisor to global and regional executive leadership, influencing investment decisions while steering complex change agendas across highly matrixed global organizations. Valued for her critical thinking skills and innovative solutions embedding Gen AI, digital platforms, and governance frameworks to deliver sustainable ROI. Recognized for her inspirational leadership in setting up and scaling high performing distributed teams and mentoring leadership talent
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
Work History
Vice President - Strategic Change Programs, Corporate & Institutional Banking
HSBC
04.2024 - Current
- Accountable for a $100M+ annual investment portfolio of high-impact, OKR aligned change programs across Wholesale Lending, Trade, and Payments.
- Influence enterprise investment decisions and define future-state architecture across platforms and legal entities.
- Lead and mentor a cross-functional team of 280+ professionals across regions.
- Global Solution Centre
- Consistent quarter on quarter Operationalization of critical Cross Value Stream programs in Commercial Lending, Trade Financing and Collateral Management with Payment interlocks, influencing OKRs and delivering customer value.
- Strengthened governance frameworks, ensuring resilience and scalability across enterprise platforms.
Vice President - Head of Programs, Financing & Payment Solutions
Société Générale
08.2021 - 04.2024
- Owned a €190M+ global transformation portfolio spanning enterprise lending, payments, and liquidity platforms.
- Single point of accountability for program governance, funding, budget, risk, dependencies, and benefits realization.
- Partnered with COO, Compliance, Risk, and HR to operationalize target operating models and control frameworks.
- Directed 300+ global resources, embedding delivery discipline and regulatory readiness.
- Global Service Centre
- Migrated high-value financing and payments clients within six months of commercialization with zero incidents.
- Sustained revenue protection of ~€980M over three years through disciplined execution and risk management.
- Decommissioned legacy platforms, aligning with North-Star enterprise architecture OKRs.
- Established vendor governance frameworks, optimizing cost efficiency and delivery quality.
Senior Manager - Wholesale Lending & Payments
Cognizant
01.2003 - 09.2021
- Led large-scale banking transformations for Tier-1 banks across Europe, APAC, and the Americas.
- Established and scaled Business Analysis and Consulting teams from 10 to 200+ professionals.
- Served as both Functional Leader and Client-facing Program Lead, driving consulting engagements.
- Banking & Financial Services Consulting
- Spearheaded "One Bank, One Back Office, One Customer" transformation consolidating 95 branches, impacting 1.2M+ customers.
- Modernized a 25-year legacy lending and payments landscape into a digital core architecture (Loan IQ, T24, SAP IS-Banking, APIs, STP).
- Achieved 95% straight-through processing, delivering €100M+ annual cost savings and reducing loan cycles to 24 hours.
- Enabled scalable digital lending platforms supporting rapid COVID-era lending programs.
- Onboarded ESG-aligned lending portfolio of ~€700M in the first year of commercialization.
- Implemented Customer 360 analytics, predictive credit decisioning, and RPA-led exception management.
Education
M.S. - Software Engineering
Annamalai University
MBA - Finance & Systems
ITM Group / New Hampshire
B.A. - Economics & Statistics
University of Madras
Skills
- Strategic planning
- Program governance
- Risk management
- Change management
- Enterprise architecture
- Budget oversight
- Stakeholder engagement
- Team building
- Performance optimization
- Regulatory compliance
- Leadership excellence
- Operational excellence
- Innovative mindset
- Data-driven decision-making
- Business analysis
- Wholesale lending
- Wholesale and cross border payments
- Liquidity solutions
- Trade Finance
LinkedIn Profile
https://www.linkedin.com/in/meenakshi-mahesh-8317b6164/
Timeline
Vice President - Strategic Change Programs, Corporate & Institutional Banking
HSBC
04.2024 - Current
Vice President - Head of Programs, Financing & Payment Solutions
Société Générale
08.2021 - 04.2024
Senior Manager - Wholesale Lending & Payments
Cognizant
01.2003 - 09.2021
M.S. - Software Engineering
Annamalai University
MBA - Finance & Systems
ITM Group / New Hampshire
B.A. - Economics & Statistics
University of Madras