Edexcel

University of the Witwatersrand

University of South Africa/Universiteit van Suid-Afrika

University of Cape Town

Founder & Managing Director, Vedanvi. Passionate about transforming financial services and building Fintech ventures.

London, England, United Kingdom

Financial services is undergoing disruption at an unprecedented scale.  Vedanvi has been positioned at the heart of such disruption, helping launch and grow Fintech ventures or help incumbents improve operational efficiency and customer experience using Fintech

Check out our new website <a href="http://www.vedanvi.com">www.vedanvi.com</a>

For Fintech and Alternative Finance firms, regulation and risks that they and their customers face,  pose the biggest barrier to entry.  Vedanvi are committed to helping such firms overcome strategic and operational challenges as well as risk and regulatory barriers.   We work with:
-   Corporate escapees and serial entrepreneurs to launch Fintech & financial services ventures
-   Early stage financial services firms grow, scale and get funded
-   Incumbents to help them respond to Fintech led disruption or use Fintech to imporve performance or customer experience.
-  Professional investors looking to invest debt of equity in financial services businesses.

Key client projects
-  Co-founded a peer to business lender with over 100 investors and two loans on the platform, all within 11 months.  I sat on the Board as an approved person and with the title of Commercial Director.
-  Compliance Director (CF10) and Board Advisor for an alternative lender.
-  Helping several Fintech businesses successfully obtain their regulatory license with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).•	Providing an interim CF10 (Risk & Compliance Director) to a peer to peer platform
-  Helping a UAE based firm prepare to launch a UK headquartered global peer to peer lending organisation.  We advised on a global corporate structure and helped them prepare for FCA authorisation.
-  Helping to launch a property fund and raise initial funding

I am the managing Director at Vedanvi, responsible for setting and implementing on the strategic direction of the firm, develop business and deliver high profile assignments.

Vedanvi Fintech & Risk Consulting

Managing Director

In light of massive shortage of actuarial resource that had the potential to derail Aviva's financial risk management and economic capital management as well as implementation of Solvency II, I conceptualised and successfully pioneered an entrepreneurial venture across Aviva globally, by developing a Captive Actuarial outsourcing Centre of Excellence in South Africa.

I obtained Group Executive Committee approval for a budget to implement the Centre with the aim to operate as an internal standalone consultancy, providing high end actuarial services out of South Africa.  The Centre would significantly strengthen Aviva's actuarial capability was set to achieve £10 million cost savings already in its first year pilot operation.

I worked closely with the business units to create demand and managed to develop a pipeline of 60 actuaries in a market where actuarial resources were extremely scarce.

I led a team of 10 including some of the most senior executives in Aviva, including the Company Secretary, General Council, Procurement Director, and the Head of Tax.

The programme was sponsored by the Deputy Group Chief FInancial Officer and overseen by a Steering Committee comprising Chief FInancial Officers of the major Business Units and key Group Executives.

Aviva

Programme Director, Captive Actuarial Outsourcing Centre in South Africa

Aviva plc, headquartered in London, is the 6th-largest insurance company in the world, with over 43M million customers across 21 countries, £311B in funds under management and 36,000 employees.

I was hired into this strategic role with specific remit to balance and steer the strategic dialogue, understanding and cross-cultural coordination between Aviva's Group, Regions and Business Units for the £150m Solvency II Project, to ensure that programme risks were minimised and there was cohesive effort to deliver one of the largest regulatory change programmes that Aviva ever undertook. In the absence of this role, significant issues were arising that could derail implementation and cause Aviva significant repetitional risk with the regulator and in the market, as well as result in significant programme cost implications.

I was a member on all regional Solvency II Steering Committees, and was responsible for anticipating and successfully resolving (troubleshooting) significant technical and programme related issues that could put the Solvency II programme at risk.

Programme Director, Solvency II Cross Programme Implementation

Aviva plc, headquartered in London, is the 6th-largest insurance company in the world, with over 43 million customers across 21 countries, £311 billion in funds under management and 36,000 employees.

Together with the Business Sponsor, I was responsible for leading the programme to revise and re-developing Aviva's Risk and Governance framework on a global basis to align with the new Solvency II regulatory regime.  Leading a direct team of 2 and a cross country, cross cultural virtual team of 20, The team was responsible for developing comprehensive Group led business requirements directing Aviva's business units worldwide to realign their governance and risk management strategy, policies, frameworks and operations to comply to the new Solvency II Pillar 2 requirements.

Key achievements include the following:
Developing an end state vision document for the setting out how Aviva would effectively govern and manage risks so that they not only align with Solvency II requirements but provide Aviva with commercial benefits.

Development of a Reinsurance Group to integrate Life & General Insurance risks cost effectively into the Aviva framework, leading to the wider functional implementation to accelerate risk adjusted capital returns through optimisation of risk diversification benefits.

Strategically redesigning Aviva's actuarial organisational model and associated processes to align to Solvency II requirements.

Advised on the development of ORSA (Own Risk and Solvency Assessment) framework; validation of internal risk models and on establishing an Internal Model Application Process (IMAP) work stream.

Interim Programme Director, Governance and Risk, Solvency II Workstream

Aegon UK, is a one of the largest pensions & life assurance business in the UK with 2 million customers & 3,000 employees (at the time).

I led the entire Risk Function on a day to day basis, managing staff of 30, during a Chief Risk Officer transition, and a major risk transformation change management programme initiated by potential regulatory enforcement.

As part of the risk transformation programme, I was instrumental in leading (through two programme workstreams) Aegon's overhaul of their entire risk management methodology and risk policy suite with support from an internal team and external consultants.

I was business partner to and member of the Life and Pensions Management Board, responsible for providing advice and guidance on all matters related to risk management and regulations.

Aegon UK

Interim Head of Risk & Workstream Lead for Risk Transformation Programme

An innovative risk and regulatory solutions consultancy providing a range of interim risk management and consulting services primarily to large financial services organisations.

I took on various long term and strategic Interim Risk Director and Regulatory Change Programme Director roles with several large financial services organisations including, Aviva, Aegon and Prudential.

Tikam Consulting Limited

Interim Risk & Regulatory Executive

Prudential Plc is one of the world's largest insurance company.  Their UK and European subsidiary has over 7 million customers and is a leading provider of life insurance & pensions in Europe.

I led the re-built (including the rebuilding of the entire team) and transformation of the effectiveness of Prudential’s Financial Risk Oversight function.  This significant and strategic risk management change programme was instrumental in helping Prudential maximise return on risk adjusted capital.  The Board received greater assurance through these initiatives, allowing them to take more informed and prudent risk decisions.  The project required great stakeholder management skills and key achievements included:

The development of a highly effective risk assessment strategy and framework that was used to advise and develop recommendations for Prudential to hedge against financial risks that potentially exposed them to market losses of several hundred million considerably ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.

Playing a pivotal role in the largest ever pensions transfer deal in the UK; this was Prudential’s £1bn bulk annuity transaction with Cable & Wireless and I was responsible for risk assessment of the deal and advising on deal structures that would limit Prudential's exposure to financial and operational risk.

The development of practical and effective Board risk appetite statements and risk reports that presented complex information form various sources in a simple and pragmatic manner that helped the Board effectively assess overall risk exposures.

The development of a truly commercial risk management framework that not only focused on protecting downside risks, but more importantly, allowing businesses to maximise up-side.

Leading the implementation of the Solvency II regulatory change programme, the largest programme undertaken by Prudential.

Prudential UK & Europe

Interim Financial Risk Director

Helped to build E&Y's Financial Services Risk Business from a low base and win new clients; contributed to the strategic development of the new enterprise with responsibility for talent recruitment & mentoring (100 staff).  I developed several products and developed client business exceeding £1m

Key Client Projects include:
-  Led a Basel II programme for the worlds largest internet bank;
-  Developed a Credit Risk Oversight Function for a medium sized bank from scratch amidst great political sensitivities
-  Led a Basel II Internal Model Application Process (IMAP) for one of the world's largest UK based global bank
-  Helped a medium sized bank deal with the regulatory review process
-  Reviewed and made recommendations on the group wide risk management framework for the world's largest hedge fund
-  Led a quant team to develop a quantitative operational risk model for a global Asset Manager
-  Developed a Basel II self assessment tool and QIS (Quantitative Impact study) Analytical tool and sold this to several leading global banks with sales totalling £1m).
-  Made recommendation for the reorganisation of the risk governance organisational structure for the largest UK building society
-  Developed Board risk reports for a large building society

Key clients include:
-  HBOS
-  Lloyds TSB
-  Standard Chartered Bank
-  Nationwide
-  Bradford & Bingley
-  Man Group
-  Schroders
-  HBOS
-  Citi Bank

Ernst & Young

Senior Manager

Responsible for the introduction of Basel II into South Africa, working in close collaboration with Parliament, legislatures and senior representatives of the country’s banking sector.  Led the industry consultation process, economic impact analysis and development of a Basel II based regulatory framework.

Founded the ‘Accord Implementation Forum’ to ensure full engagement with all stakeholders and Chaired various sub-committees.

Member of the non-G10 arm of the Basel Committee (Core Principles Liaison Group) representing South Africa at Committee Meetings.

Member of the Global QIS Working Committee, taking responsibility for conducting the quantitative impact study across the South African banking sector and presenting the data at the Committee.

Was considered a Basel II guru in South Africa and presented at several conferences as well as lectured at Rand Afrikaans University.

South African Reserve Bank

Assistant General Manager & Head of Basel II

- Developed a Risk Management practice focusing on technology aspects of governance, risk and compliance
-  Business development
-  Proposed and started developing a market risk management application services provider (ASP) in partnership with Algorithmics and ABSA Bank.

Dimension Data

Senior Consultant

- Primary responsibility to develop Business Risk Consulting services within the financial services    sector through strategic value based selling, and delivery of risk management consulting engagements (including business improvements)
-  Risk and control assessment & development of risk management plans
-  Assisting clients with Turnbull compliance
-  Participate in global risk management product development through international network with the Ernst & Young global organization.
-  People development.
-  Marketing through seminars and articles in relevant publications.

Ernst & Young (South Africa)

Senior Manager - Financial Services Risk Management

- Responsible for operational, reputational and legal risk management.
-  Quantification of operational risk management.
-  Development and embedding of a risk culture within the organization.
-  Formulation of an operational risk management framework.
-  Development and implementation of internal controls and systems, policies and procedures
-  Loss control, fraud awareness and prevention.
-  Member of and representation on several committees , including the Financial Services Risk        Committee and Main Review Committee.

Nedcor Investment Bank

Senior Manager, Operational Risk

Manage high net worth private client funds in excess of R 100 million in conjunction with Syfrets Asset Management, and was responsible for tax and retirement planning, financial planning and relationship management of non-resident and emigrant clients.  Part of my duties extended to estate , trust and tax planning, both onshore and offshore.
Business development to acquire new clients with substantial investable funds.

Nedbank Private Wealth

High Net Worth Private Client Portfolio Manager

Advising on legal aspects pertaining to electrical and electronic inventions
Drafting patents
Intellectual Property litigation
Advising on commercialisation of intellectual property

Jay Tikam

Jay Tikam