My professional career started
when I joined Standard Chartered in 1990 after graduating with a Masters in
Management Studies from Sydenham Institute of Management in Mumbai. My first
appointment in Standard Chartered was as line manager responsible for running
the data centre for the eight branches in Kolkata (then known as Calcutta,
India). Two years later, I was given two days notice to move to Mumbai as
Operations Head for the Investment Management Unit in the Merchant Bank. I
continued and grew in this role until 1997, when I got the opportunity to move
into a newly created role to look at internal controls for specific Business
and all the Support Functions for Standard Chartered India. The role reported
into the CEO and CFO. This role grew and morphed into a Business and Operations
Risk role for India and included responsibility for Insurance, BCP and Y2K.
Around 1999,
I started getting restless and began looking out for new areas to venture into
within the bank. The question that dogged me was – what is the logical next
step for someone with my background. It was then that I became aware of a new
function being set up in London called Group Operational Risk. I contacted the
Head of the function to understand more. The more we spoke, the more I realized
that this was the answer that I was looking for. I consulted with my colleagues
in the Finance function and a few friends. Some were very supportive, but there
were others who warned that I was taking a big risk….no one in India had heard of Operational Risk. Think twice, I was warned.
