Suraj Iyer
Mumbai
Summary
To leverage my extensive banking knowledge and analytical skills to provide strategic and innovative solutions, ensuring optimized operations and client satisfaction as a core banking consultant.
- Over 8.3 yrs of experience in the banking and financial services industry with expertise in trade finance domain, process optimization, and digital transformation. - Proven track record of delivering successful implementation, migration, and integration of banking solutions to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency. - Strong knowledge of regulatory compliance, risk management, and financial product lifecycles. - Exceptional stakeholder management and leadership skills, driving collaborative and impactful results across multidisciplinary teams.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Manager-Trade Specialist
IDFC FIRST Bank
Mumbai
04.2025 - Current
- Working as SME BA for implementation and customization of Newgen- New Trade System for import transactions.
- Part of the team involved in handling SWIFT messages: pertaining to trade products:( MT103, MT202, MT110, MT199, MT299, MT192, MT111
- Handling Advance Import payment, Direct Import payment, Import/Export collections, Import/Export LC’s
- Handling internal audit queries related to import trade transactions.
- Involved in creating regulatory reporting for trade transactions to RBI.
- Conducting regular training sessions to bank staffs on trade products.
- Roles and Responsibilities:
Manager-Trade Specialist
IDFC FIRST Bank
Mumbai
08.2021 - 03.2025
- Working as SME BA for implementation and customization of Newgen- New Trade System for import transactions.
- Requirement gathering from end users and preparing in BRD and Users stories.
- Conducting user journey and demo to the end users.
- Liaising with the vendors.
- Conducted in-depth business process reviews in import payment like Advance payment, import payment, documentary collection, identifying and implementing improvements that enhanced operational efficiency in import transactions. Part of UAT testing team ensuring acceptance of the new system.
- Led cross-functional teams in delivering ensuring on-time delivery.
- Collaborated with stakeholders to ensure adherence to compliance regulations and risk management protocols.
- Part of the team involved in handling SWIFT messages: pertaining to trade products:( MT103, MT202, MT110, MT199, MT299, MT192, MT111
- Handling Advance Import payment, Direct Import payment, Import/Export collections, Import/Export LC’s
- Handling internal audit queries related to import trade transactions.
- Involved in creating regulatory reporting for trade transactions to RBI.
- Conducting regular training sessions to bank staffs on trade products.
- Roles and Responsibilities:
Deputy Manager II
ICICI Bank
Mumbai
04.2017 - 07.2021
- As a domain analyst was part of technical team for the period 2019-2021, involved in digital transformation, conducted in-depth analyses, developed customized solutions, and supported implementation for measurable improvements for trade finance products.
- Gathered requirements from key stakeholders and enabled the technical team to develop the application.
- Was part of UAT testing team for testing application from initial stage to end stage and if any bug found had reported to technical team.
- Was rated as 01 and got promoted as deputy Manager-II for working simultaneously with two teams.
- Also, part of technical team for below projects as a domain analyst:
- IDOC Project Trade Finance or I-BOE (Paper less transactions) – IDOC project or I-BOE was introduced for bank customers for smooth processing of transaction within TAT wherein I had reduced multiple documents requirement from customers to a single document.
- New Trade System projects- Was part of the team from planning stage till Implementation stage for end-to-end processing of trade transactions.
- Trade finance documents processing for text extraction using OCR (IBM Watson) helped to reduce manual entry and bring in automation.
- BOE related projects- Updating or regularizing bill of entry was done post processing trade transaction through bank internal bank application TRRACS. In order to reduce human intervention, as a domain analyst, lead the team to link banks application TRRACS into New trade system.
- SWIFT related deployment – This project was introduced for Trade finance operation team for issuing DD. We had customers who wants to issue DD to multiple customers. However, lot of human intervention was required for issuing multiple DDs from single customers through our core banking system (Finacle). Hence designed a holistic application that captures necessary details of multiple customers and executes issuance of DD in one go. And led the program that integrated swift messages through new trade system.
- Played a pivotal role in migrating multiple disparate systems into single platform, minimizing downtime and enhancing user experience
- For processing trade transactions multiple applications were used like Newgen for documents scanning by customers online or by branch users and scrutinizing the documents by operation team, Finacle for posting entries through core banking system, updating or regularizing bill of entry document post processing trade transaction through bank internal bank application TRRACS which is linked through IDPMS/EDPMS tool created by RBI.
- Part of the team involved in designing application called NTS- New trade System where in multiple applications were built into a single platform - submit trade transaction request online/offline, Scrutinize the documents by operation team as per bank driven process and posting entries along with regularizing bill of entry and sending swift messages
- New trade systems were designed keeping in mind compliance and other regulatory aspects as set by RBI.
- Developed training materials on trade finance products and their usage, conducted workshops for bank staffs.
- Generated detailed reports and dashboards, aiding in executive decision-making processes.
- From period 2017-2019 joined as Deputy manager- I, in trade processing unit under outward remittance team as a maker for inputting all trade transactions in core banking systems.
- After gaining experience on trade products under outward remittance, was given opportunity to scrutinize trade documents like Advance Payment, documentary collection, open account, Letter of credit- Scrutinizing the documents as per RBI guidelines and as per internal bank process. Evaluating the internal bank process for smooth processing of trade transactions.
- In payments, preparing and Authorizing SWIFTs for fund transfer and tracing, payment authorization and remittance swift as MT103, MT202, MT110, MT199, MT192. MT299 and MT103 cover payment.
- Handled Advance Import payment, Direct Import payment, Import/Export collections, Import/Export LC’s
- Handled audit queries and revert.
- Was awarded as best scrutinizer within one year.
- Roles and Responsibilities:
Education
PGDB - Banking
Manipal University
Bengaluru07.2017
Master of Commerce - Accounts and Finance
Mumbai University
Mumbai06.2016
Bachelor of Commerce - Accounts and Finance
Mumbai University
Mumbai07.2014
Skills
- Core Banking Systems: [Finacle, Finastra]
- Basics on Data Tools: [SQL, Excel- power pivot, data analysis]
- Basics on Project Management Tools: [JIRA, Power BI, Visio, Confluence]
- Trade Finance
- Core Banking Systems like Finacle, Finastra
- Process Analysis & Optimization
- Regulatory Compliance (eg, AML, KYC)
- Digital Transformation Initiatives
- Project Management (Agile methodologies)
- End to end requirement gathering
- Expertise in process validation and review
- Liaising with vendor and IT development team
- Stakeholder management, Engagement & Training and Sign-off requirement
Certification
- Certification in Agile fundamentals from Udemy
- Certification on Agile Business Analysis from Udemy
Languages
English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil
Websites
Accomplishments
- Got recognition from Client for timely delivery of the projects.
- Got consistent recognition from the leadership for exemplary work carried out.
- Consistently rated outstanding performer with 1 rating for the period 2018-21
- Got Certification of Appreciation for Best Scrutinizer.
- Rated outstanding performer with 5 rating for the period 2024-25
Timeline
Senior Manager-Trade Specialist
IDFC FIRST Bank
04.2025 - Current
Manager-Trade Specialist
IDFC FIRST Bank
08.2021 - 03.2025
Deputy Manager II
ICICI Bank
04.2017 - 07.2021
PGDB - Banking
Manipal University
Master of Commerce - Accounts and Finance
Mumbai University
Bachelor of Commerce - Accounts and Finance
Mumbai University
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