Rajasekar M

Seasoned Senior Operations Manager with expertise in Business Process Development, focusing on Service delivery, Business Process Automation and Optimization in Financial Crimes – Card Fraud Detection, Cards Dispute & Resolution, and Card & Deposit Payments Processing. Currently overseeing a dedicated team of 130 FTEs, driving professional teams towards achieving business objectives while ensuring seamless operations and delivery. Known for surpassing predefined SLAs, including TAT, Quality, and Efficiency metrics, with a proven track record of exceeding expectations by developing automations & driving transformation projects. Notable for inspiring and motivating team members, fostering a collaborative and high-performing work environment. Comprehensive business knowledge and extensive management experience contribute to valuable insights that enhance team operations. Continual enhancement of expertise in banking industry best practices and pursuit of opportunities for improvement are ongoing commitments.

• Seasoned Professional: Over 12.8 years of experience specializing in Business Process Development, with a focus on Financial Services - Retail Banking Operational service delivery, workflow management, Business Process Automation, and process reengineering.
• Financial Crime & Payment Operations Expertise: Proficient in handling Financial Crime operations, including Card & Online Fraud Detection, Debit & Credit Card Claims. Experienced in Card & Deposit Payments servicing, encompassing client servicing, accounting, settlements, IT infrastructure access management, automation, UAT testing, and process management. Possess a broad understanding of the Fin crime & Payments Operations value chain & technology platforms.
• Change Management & Collaboration: Skilled in overseeing transitions and change management. Effectively collaborate with tech groups and internal teams like solution design, pricing, and legal to implement SOW and contract modifications. Successfully managed multiple process transitions in both onsite and remote formats, ensuring smooth transitions with minimal disruptions.
• SLA Adherence: Conduct regular reviews on SLA adherence through monitoring of daily dashboards, workflow queues, and leading daily stand-up meetings with team leads.
• Weekly SLA Reviews: Facilitate weekly SLA reviews to provide guidance and support to the team, ensuring consistent delivery of services.
• Effort Estimation & Staffing: Track effort estimations in a timely manner and strategically allocate staffing to meet revenue and profitability targets.
• Governance & Performance Reviews: Effectively manage both internal and external governance and performance reviews, ensuring compliance and continuous improvement in all operations.
• Automation & Process Implementation: Experienced in developing VBA and Python automations, with numerous successful process implementations. Participated in several Lean and Six Sigma projects, yielding significant financial and operational gains.
• Client Engagement & Communication: Partnered with client stakeholders to establish Workflow & Process Optimization, Capacity Modelling, and Implementation. Proactively monitored process performance via program reviews and customer forums, identifying opportunities for increased engagement.
• Audit & Compliance: Actively participate and drive engagement level internal & external audits such as internal audits– PPM & KM; External Audits – PCIDSS & SOC.
• Leadership & Employee Development: Oversee succession planning, employee recognition & Incentive program to encourage professional development and high performance.

Fin Crime – Bank Card Claims – Card Fraud Investigation & Disputes Resolution Fin Crime – Bank Card Detection – Card Fraud Investigation & Prevention

• Financial Crime Operations Expertise: Possess a strong understanding of Financial Crime Operations, including Card, Deposit, Online & Retail Fraud Prevention, dispute resolution, and Case Management.
• Governance & Performance Reviews: Effectively handle both Internal and External Governance & Performance reviews, ensuring the smooth operation of financial systems.
• Quality Assurance & Control: Deployed effective QA & QC methods & techniques, ensuring the controls & compliance are maintained at all times.
• Process Standardization: Conducted in-depth studies and standardized processes, workflows, and rule engine criteria, leading to improved operational efficiency.
• Automation & Efficiency: Developed multiple VBA & Python automations, delivering outstanding gains and improved Control & Compliance, Turnaround & Fraud Prevention.
• System Enhancement and Client Engagement: Engaged with client partners to enhance payment processing systems and reports, showcasing a commitment to continuous improvement and client satisfaction.
• Team Collaboration: Effectively work with leads and managers to deliver best-in-class service, fostering a collaborative environment that prioritizes quality and customer satisfaction.
• Led a team of 60 full-time employees (FTEs) responsible for processing Debit & Credit Card Claims in accordance with Regulation E & Z guidelines.
• Conducted deep-dive and logic-based investigations to make informed decisions on claims.
• Performed comprehensive research on recent deposits, credits & debits, previous transaction histories, spending history, ATM tapes, geographies of transactions, claim history, and corporate strategy updates on fraud scenarios such as Skimming, ID-Theft, Account Takeover, Data Breach, and Merchant Collusion.
• Provided detailed notes on the actions taken and investigations performed within the case management tool.
• Issued provisional credit, sent letters to clients, and refunded associated fees & charges.
• Completed Fraud Reporting, Case Closure, and initiated the chargeback process.
• Deployed effective audits, audit methods, and sampling criteria for improved control & compliance.
• Managed a team of 30 FTEs responsible for identifying and preventing unauthorized activities by monitoring suspicious alerts for card-based transactions in real time.
• Utilized the FALCON alert engine to filter suspicious transactions based on preset criteria in the rule engine across multiple queues such as In-zone & Out-Zone and High Risk queues.
• Ensured 24/7 support with a team operating round-the-clock and providing rotational shifts.
• Swiftly performed investigations that included Geographic Review, Previous participation, spending pattern, and merchant history.
• Documented the actions performed within the Alert Engine and Card Processing platform
• Monitored the alert to fraud ratio to improve the effectiveness of the investigation and decision-making process.
• Regularly reviewed all the transactions triggered as suspicious alerts and provided instructions to Corporate Strategy to update the rule engine to reduce false positives.
• The team was also responsible for account-level fraud reporting and making strategy updates in the Card Processing application.

• Expertise in Card Processing Systems: Proficient in handling card processing systems such as Fiserv, FIS Global, and TSYS, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the card’s value chain from campaigning to collections.
• Leadership in Operations Management: Successfully managed operations, leading to significant business growth. The team expanded from 28 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) to 185, specializing in Card Payments, Deposit Payments, and Deposit Account Servicing.
• Center of Excellence: Operated as a Center of Excellence, providing comprehensive support to all Cards Business.
• System Enhancement and Client Engagement: Engaged with client partners to enhance payment processing systems and reports, showcasing a commitment to continuous improvement and client satisfaction.
• Productivity Commitment: Showcased a strong commitment to enhancing client productivity by providing an additional 26 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) through strategic initiatives and transformation efforts.
• Merger & Acquisition and Platform Conversion: Actively collaborated with client technology partners during significant merger & acquisition events. Played a key role in the conversion of the Card Processing platform, ensuring a smooth transition and minimizing disruption to services.

• Managing a team of 80 supporting servicing for Consumer, Small Business & Commercial Card Products
• Extremely diverse process, handling 60+ request types in primary Back-office servicing workflow application and 50+ system generated reports for processing
• Implementation and Onboarding of Commercial Clients based on validating various contractual forms embedded as a package
• Perform various business and account maintenance within Service level requirements
• Processing Transactions (Misapplied/ Fee Refunds/ Credit Balance Refunds), Rejected Payments, Research & Posting Payments
• Dedicated Accounting team performs accruals, income & expense allocations & Credit & Debit card settlements
• Governance team provides access administration support to all In-house & third-party card applications
• Key GL Entries through Oracle/SAP/ AES platforms
• Effectively handle Internal, External Governance & Performance reviews

• Transitioned 55 FTEs Payment Operations, responsible for processing all paper transaction under keyers and Balancers
• Worked in EIS, ETS & FTM4C transaction monitoring application.
• Accurately capture & key the transaction & account information with in the core deposit systems
• Balancing is one of the complex processes ensure debits & credits are tied, rejecting duplicates and align misplaced transactions into right pockets
• Perform required Branch / Client or Department level correction basis the scenario
• Developed automations to extract transaction details from deposit systems helped us defining audit plans, strategies & reports
• Built interactive business Intelligence reports & dashboards with respect to track and report user, team, SLA performance & volume trend reportings
• Provided effective tools and techniques to increase the Fields Keyed Per Hour Keyer & Adjustment Processed in an hour
• Effectively handle Internal, External Governance & Performance reviews
• Deployed Effective QA & QC methods & techniques ensuring the controls & compliance

1. Improvement in Denial Savings in Bank Card Claims Processing:

• Problem: Previously, low dollar threshold claims were paid without any investigation due to obsolete investigation steps and methods.
• Solution: Implemented new logic and realigned investigation parameters, which helped in identifying bogus claims. Decreased the investigation threshold from $250 to $100.
• Result: These strategic changes led to an improvement in Denial Saves by 16%, translating to annual savings of $1.6 million.

2. Increase in ACH Recovery Percentage:

• Problem: Identified that on average, 20% of ACH claims were not recovered every month due to missing signed affidavits from customers.
• Solution: Implemented and recommended the use of digital signatures for timely verification and confirmation. Automated the generation of letters during case intake.
• Result: These strategic changes led to an increase in ACH Recovery from 63% to 89%, resulting in annual savings of $4.2 million.

3. Cards - Optimization Strategy 2021:

• Assessment: Conducted an end-to-end assessment of operations with 120 queues & reports. Identified automation opportunities and defined a clear governance structure with stakeholders and responsibilities.
• Planning: Categorized the project into 4 sprints for efficient execution.
• Implementation: Developed and implemented automations on 59 queues/reports, complete with user manuals and code review documentation.
• Result: The strategic changes led to savings of 16 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) and approximately $434K in hard savings for clients.

4. JR Queue - Transaction Recon Tool:

• Development: Developed a VBA script that interacts with the BlueZone Mainframe to extract all processed transactions and compare them with manually prepared GL sheets.
• Implementation: The tool was used to reconcile and remediate outstanding entries, ensuring seamless transaction processing.
• Result: The implementation of this tool resulted in savings of 3 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) and achieved 100% accuracy in payments processing.

5. Rewards Redemption & Processing Tool:

• Development & Implementation: Developed and implemented a tool for rewards redemption and processing.
• Result: The implementation of this tool resulted in savings of 2 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) and improved Turnaround Time (TAT) and accuracy in rewards redemption and processing.

• Won the Inspiring Manager Award - Financial Services, India, at Infosys BPM.
• Received the CEO High Performer Award four times.
• Runner-Up in the Confederation of Indian Industry Summit 2021 for optimizing operations.
• Recognized with the Be the Navigator Award from Infosys Quality.
• Received Client Awards in 2019 and 2020 for excellence and effective management.
• Received multiple Covid Warrior awards
• Received Gladiator, Zenith & Best mentor Awards – 2016 -18
• Secured 3 I-Star Awards between 2012 -2015
• Won multiple individual extra miler & SPOT awards

Completed Money & Banking certification from the American Banker Association.

• Orlando, FL, 2017, Process Transition and Documentation
• Atlanta, GA, 2017, Card Operations Business Meet
• Orlando, FL, 2018, Process Transition and Documentation
• Atlanta, GA, 2019, RPA Assessment – Financial Crime
• Charlotte, NC, 2022, Deposit Payments Transition
• Charlotte, NC, 2023, Deposit Payments Transition

I solemnly declare that all the above information is correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Place: Bengaluru, KA                                                                (Rajasekar M)