Suju Somarajann, Project Manager / Senior Consultant

Suju Somarajann

Project Manager / Senior Consultant

BNPParibas (Anteas Asia)

Location
Singapore
Education
Master's degree, Finance / Derivatives
Experience
14 years, 9 Months

Share My Profile

Block User


Work Experience

Total years of experience :14 years, 9 Months

Project Manager / Senior Consultant at BNPParibas (Anteas Asia)
  • Singapore - Singapore
  • My current job since January 2022

• As the PM/BA/Scrum master, maintain the backlog of financial and regulatory reporting projects and managing a team of 20 members.
• Contribute to IT projects especially in the areas of Group, Regulatory & Liquidity Reporting; Management of Liquidity Positions, IFRS -9, FX & Interest Rate Risk; and other Asia requests
• Perform Budget forecasting, Estimation and Actual controlling.
• Collaborating with Stakeholders to define the Business Case, its scope and prioritization. Close liaison with Business Teams.
• Formulating a project roadmap with the identification of Business or IT Domains required. Coordination with Transversal Teams.
• Experience working throughout the entire project life cycle; including analyzing and documenting requirements, workshops, testing and stakeholder management throughout.
• Responsible for project documentations like specifications, architecture slides, projects estimations, roadmap building, Steering Committees etc. Manage Steering Committees & Working Groups in each stream. Chair combined Transversal Steering Committee of all streams.
• Organization of the resources with capacity planning to support the Projects including the allocation of resources. Responsible for managing & reporting project risks and issues.
• Good knowledge and working capability of product life cycle like loans, deposits, derivatives etc.
• Good knowledge on Asset Liability Management, Treasury products, IFRS9 implication in Finance streams.
• Good knowledge and understanding of the information flow and various business functions in a financial services/bank. Knowledge on Accounting /finance system implementation lifecycle
• Comprehension of the Business Requirements and documentation of specifications.
• Drive and organize workshops with business to clarify business requirement.
• Analyze business requirement and translate into Functional Specification documentation
• Participate in full development lifecycle and formulate each deliverable into tasks.
• Required to perform follow-up and analysis on the L3 production support topics for the Asset to ensure BAU. Involvement as the Subject Matter Expert for other Projects
• Oversee a team of Functional & IT BAs, Developers and Testers for your projects. Provide coaching and leadership to the Team. Work with other Division Heads to secure resources from other Divisions to deliver the work planned.

Manager at KPMG Singapore
  • Singapore - Singapore
  • June 2021 to January 2022

• Managing a team of 8 members and lead the Scrum team for delivering credit risk (Basel IV) and Regulatory projects for one of the leading client in Singapore.
• Leading design and implementing solutions that digitize credit origination processes for Corporate, Commercial and Retail Loans, and digitising internal risk and compliance procedures
• Assisting clients on their gap analysis, implementation or quality assurance on critical regulatory change initiatives including IFRS9, BCBS239, Basel III/ IV, ICAAP, and Stress Testing
• Understanding and analysing client’s credit portfolios, underlying risks and risk factors to then formulate approaches to develop appropriate credit models
• Developing credit models (PD, LGD, EAD, Impairment, EL as appropriate) using necessary statistical methodologies with the use of relevant analytical solutions
• Assisting client in risk technology change programs (including - ALM, Liquidity)
• Ensuring smooth delivery to clients, including presentations and discussions with senior management, to showcase intermediate and final outputs of work and address on-going queries

Project Manager at DBS Bank - PersolKelly Pte Ltd
  • Singapore
  • July 2020 to June 2021

• Successfully managed a team of 10 members and led a Scrum team for Large Exposure across countries for different regulators - Hong Kong (HKMA), Singapore (MAS 656), and China (CBIRC)
• Facilitated discussions and conflict resolution to ensure no impact on the delivery of projects
• Organised and facilitated project planning, daily stand-up meetings, reviews, retrospectives, sprint and release planning, demos and the scrum related meetings
• Maintained docs like backlog tracking, user stories in JIRA and updating relevant docs in Confluence
• Effectively worked within Agile Scrum framework, and Agile software development
• Worked with stakeholders to identify and understand requirements for Large Exposures (SA-CCR)
• Managed requirements by constantly clarifying and reviewing via walkthrough with stakeholders
• Worked with Java codes, Hadoop (hive), Moody's Risk Authority (RAy) for analysis and interpretation of user stories, and in Credit and Market Risk domains

Business Analyst at UOB Bank - Optimum Solutions Pte Ltd
  • Singapore
  • January 2019 to July 2020

Project : MAS 639 /656 Large Exposure, IFRS 9 :-

• Requirement Gathering with the users, and understand the BRD for Regulatory Projects eg : MAS 639, 643
• Implementing incremental changes in Basel II/III Credit Risk/Market Risk RWA calculations and SA-CCR for UOB group and subsidiaries, in Moody's Risk Authority (RAy) platform.
• Working on implementation of IFRS 9 ECL reporting and impairment calculation models.
• Able to understand Risk data structures (Logical and Physical) and proficient in SQL, VBA to interrogate underlying information to validate data models (F-IRB & A-IRB), PD, LGD, EAD.
• Perform impact analysis on the existing system functionalities with respect to the new proposed changes.
• Create Functional Specification documents based on the BRD, prepare the data mapping specification documents, conduct functional walkthrough for the stakeholders, and obtain FS signoff.
• Prepare test cases and scenarios to be included in FS documents and to be used for SIT
• Perform SIT - conduct testing in SIT, register and track SIT issues, provide SIT signoff
• Support in UAT testing - responsible to investigate the issues raised in UAT, and to co-ordinate with users and developers during the UAT phase for all techno-functional queries.

Senior Business Analyst - Risk Management at StraitsBridge Advisors
  • United Arab Emirates - Dubai
  • September 2017 to December 2018

 StraitsBridge Advisors as Senior Business Analyst September 2017 - Present :
Location : UAE (United Arab Emirates) :-

Clients : Al Masraf (UAE), AlRajhi Bank (Saudi Arabia)

• Comfortable writing/reviewing the necessary documentation pertaining to projects eg. PID, BRD, FRD, UAT Test scripts/cases
• Good understanding of ratings - Moody’s, S&P, Fitch and MRA (Moody’s Risk Analytics ), analyse financial data spreads (Moody’s) from balance sheet, profit and loss statement and cash flow
• Consulting on various Risk (Credit and Market) and Regulatory Change (focused on BASEL) oriented financial technology initiatives.
• Knowledge of IFRS 9 (International Financial Reporting Standards) (Expected Credit Loss, Impairment) and preparation of test cases.
• Understanding, testing and calculating of so called “ Greeks” risk measure - Delta, Theta, Vega, Gamma.
• Able to understand Risk data structures (Logical and Physical) and proficient in SQL to interrogate underlying information to validate data models (F-IRB & A-IRB), PD, LGD, EAD.
• Calculate the regulatory capital requirement of Market Risk, Credit Risk, Operational Risk (Fraud) and provide input, support and expert advice in the process of managing market risk regulatory capital (including ICAAP) and regulatory liquidity measures (including LCR and NSFR ratios).
• Bridge gaps and differences between the business teams, Testing team, vendors and other stakeholders of project to form a clean two way interface channel.
• Well versed with Central banking reporting, Islamic Finance (Sukuk, Mudarabah, Murabahah, Istisna, Ijarah, Musharakah), Qatar, Saudi Arabia controls board reporting, International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA), SIMAH, SAMA regulations.

Senior Business Analyst - Risk Management at AGREEYA SOLUTIONS GULF JLT , Wipro Infotech Client Side - QNB (Qatar National Bank)
  • Qatar - Doha
  • September 2016 to August 2017

• Gather the requirements and to map business requirements to the functionalities of EDW (Enterprise Data Warehouse) package.
• Proficient in Requirement Gathering from Business stakeholders, and translating to Technical stakeholders, through documenting Business Requirements, Functional and Non-functional specifications and hands-on involvement in data analysis sessions.
Managing a team of 8 people, acting as a Project Manager
• Knowledge of IFRS 9 (International Financial Reporting Standards) (Expected Credit Loss, Impairment) and preparation of test cases.
• Managing workflow and reporting of NSFR and LCR for BASEL-III Liquidity requirements across geographies & Handling the implementation and management of the newly introduced Capital Conservation Buffer calculation engine.
• Consulting on various Risk (Credit and Market) and Regulatory Change (focused on BASEL) oriented financial technology initiatives.
• Consulting on various endeavors in areas such as RWA, Economic Capital, Regulatory Capital, Tier-1 & Tier-2 Capital, VaR models, Stress Testing, Back Testing.
• Providing critical inputs for the development and validation of economic capital and Pillar II / III regulatory capital calculation engines.
• Able to understand Risk data structures (Logical and Physical) and proficient in SQL to interrogate underlying information to validate data models (F-IRB & A-IRB), PD, LGD, EAD.
• Calculate the regulatory capital requirement of Market Risk, Credit Risk and provide input, support and expert advice in the process of managing market risk regulatory capital (including ICAAP) and regulatory liquidity measures (including LCR and NSFR ratios).
• Provide expert input into the calculation of Economic Capital, RAROC and Risk Strategy development, ensuring alignment to the overall Group Business Strategy
• Interacting with Chief Risk Officer, Country Heads, Risk Stakeholders across MENA, EU & Singapore offices to understand the current BASEL-II frameworks as-is and help QNB Risk & Compliance team formulate a roadmap for to-be through the proposed Reporting framework for facilitating Country-level and Regional-level Regulatory Reporting.
• Understanding, testing and calculating of so called “ Greeks” risk measure - Delta, Theta, Vega, Gamma.
• A good overall understanding of Banking and Trading book concept (Hypothetical or Clean PnL) in all its dimensions (limits, ratings, exposure and reporting)
• Own body of work, escalate issues to the Project Manager and where necessary, the appropriate governance structure of the programme
• Good understanding of ratings - Moody’s, S&P, Fitch and MRA (Moody’s Risk Analytics ), analyse financial data spreads (Moody’s) from balance sheet, profit and loss statement and cash flow
• Provide expert advice with respect to market risk / credit risk / iquidity / ALM / portfolio risks associated with new product launches (retail, corporate, treasury for conventional and Islamic banking).
• Conduct annual Treasury / Credit Risk / Market Risk model risk assessments. Provide back testing results of VaR models as part of monthly reporting and evaluate results. Recalibrate models as necessary.
• Understanding of risk capital calculations including Value at Risk, Incremental Risk Charge, Counterparty exposures, FRTB and stress testing approaches, PE, EPE, PD, LGD, EAD, Expected Loss (EL), Unexpected Loss (UL)etc.
• Ability to perform detailed business analysis (Functional and data) and write business requirements as necessary in support of project deliverables
• Comfortable writing/reviewing the necessary documentation pertaining to projects eg. PID, BRD, FRD, UAT Test scripts/cases

Senior Business Analyst - Risk Management at AGREEYA SOLUTIONS GULF JLT , WIPRO INFOTECH - CLIENT SIDE -QIIB Qatar International Islamic Banking
  • Qatar - Doha
  • November 2015 to June 2016

Gulf Experience:

 AGREEYA SOLUTIONS GULF JLT (An I-Novate Group of Companies), Wipro Infotech Client Side - QIIB (Qatar International Islamic Bank) as Senior Business Analyst November 2015 - Present

Client: - QIIB (Qatar International Islamic bank) - Project: - BI Intelligence

Location: Doha, Qatar: -
• Establishing and ensuring that the Compliance and regulatory reports for (Basel II (ICAAP), Basel III( LCR, NSFR, CAR) are within the time frame of Basel Guidelines
• Testing of the (market & credit ) risk, which will comprise of sensitivity comparisons and performing VaR (Value at Risk), PE, EPE etc calculations.
• Good knowledge on MIS reporting (Treasury/Retail/Corporate/Trade finance) at the head office and the branch level. Establishing guidelines for Budgeting and Forecasting preparation, and prepare the annual budget.
• Providing the required mapping and codes (logic) to the IT developers, to implement as per QCB (Qatar Central Bank). Coordinating with teams like IT, FCD (financial control department), Risk, Treasury, Retail, Corproate and Marketing to understand the business requirements.
• Reporting & rectifying the ALCO, Balance sheet, General Ledger, P&L reconciliation, Financial Stability, Leverage ratio and including hierarchical representation of QIIB.
• Ensure quarterly and annual financial statements and adhoc financial reports
• Well versed with Central banking reporting, Islamic Finance (Sukuk, Mudarabah, Murabahah, Istisna, Ijarah, Musharakah), Qatar controls board reporting, International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA)
• Hands on experience in Requirements gathering and User acceptance testing (UAT)
• Understanding Business Intelligence Reporting in Banking environment

Senior Business / Risk Analyst - Risk Management at Credit Suisse
  • India - Pune
  • May 2014 to November 2015

Overview :-
Market Risk /Credit Risk Feeds Team which is responsible for processes data quality and accuracy of risk measures (VaR, SVaR, IRC, Economic Capital, PE, EPE etc ) . Key responsibilities include :-

• Understanding and documenting the requirements for the allocated projects.
• Testing of the risk feeds, which will comprise of sensitivity comparisons and performing VaR / IRC calculations.
• Performing market risk analysis activities to validate data definitions and to support functional and non-functional requirements.
• Working closely with the Feeds team colleagues, Business, IT Departments, Controllers, Operations and your counterparts in other regions
• To participate in the roll out of enhancements in risk systems, processes and data feeds
• Project support to global project managers for various fix implementations and status reportings.
• Analysis and reconciliation of risk measures & systems.
• Review and provide feedback on BRD’s.
• Interpretation of various statistics like VaR, Marginal VaR, IRC, DV01, CS01, Expected Shortfall etc.
• Performing UAT on various system release and patches.
• To develop a strong understanding of the Market Risk (VaR) & Incremental Risk (IRC) methodology changes
• Understand the configuration of model inputs & market data for the new VaR/IRC models, and Calculate & review VaR/IRC impacts resulting from methodology changes
• Handle go‐live of the projects and provide walk through for daily reporting
• Perform market data updates for new methodologies by liaising with Time Series Review Database (TSRD) team, and understand impacts on VaR/IRC & Regulatory Capital
• Daily and Monthly Review of Stressed and Unstressed exposures of the bank, understanding how they are calculated and giving comments on exposure moves and adjusted/regressed numbers (where strategic calculations are incorrect) to stakeholders who are reporting these numbers both for FINMA and PRA (erstwhile FSA)
• Analyses and Resolution of queries raised by Front Office/RWA reduction team/CRM Controls on Exceptions raised by system in general and suspicious Credit Risk numbers in particular
• Provide indicative estimates of VaR, PE, EPE to FA, Credit officers, RWA management, CVA desk and business teams, when the risk engine fails to capture exposure profiles accurately, using advanced simulation tools and models for factor based, sensitivity based (Historical simulation) and Monte Carlo risk calculators. tactically where system produces incorrect numbers strategically
• Liaise with front office business, upstream data providers, trade analysts, design analysts, system controls, IT, legal and methodologies teams to highlight and remediate issues and request strategic amendments in the data feeds, system logic, client agreements, risk valuation methodologies and risk models


Projects:
• Currently working on LE (Legal Entity) (Basel III ) where market & Liquidity Risk policy and procedural manual covering Forex, Money Market, and Equity Market & Derivatives Risk
• Worked on FX & Equities (SRP ) and CVA (Migration) where commenting on daily sensitivity moves
- VaR and sensitivity analysis & reporting on a daily basis ensuring correct numbers
- Limits monitoring

Associate (Middle Office) at SS&C Globeop Financial Services Technologies Pvt Ltd
  • India - Mumbai
  • December 2012 to October 2013

Associate (Middle Office), Business Support Group (Data Management and Control), SS&C Globe Op Financial Services Technologies Pvt Ltd, December 2012 to October 2013
• Assume responsibility for completing work functions such as static data creation and modifications of securities like Equities, Bonds, Mortgages, Swaps, MBS, ABS and Futures & Options requested by both internal and external clients.
• Compile and present financial reports (accrued interest, valuations, position reports, cash flows) daily based on extensive research (Bloomberg & Reuters).
• Take ownership for processing various corporate actions such as acquisitions, spin off, stock split on the basis of sufficient allotment of cost and positions in line with agreed terms.
• Oversee development of wire instructions to facilitate fund transfer. Evaluate global fixed income securities - Bonds, Bank Loans, Bank Debts & Mortgages. Handle floating rate updates, coupon and interest calculations for bonds.
• Analyze equities, derivative products (OTC & ETF). Assess corporate actions (dividend, rights offer, stock split) for Equity CFDs.
• Coordinate on resolving reconciliations trade (daily/monthly), position/cash breaks resulting due to variations in the calculation.
• Interface with key internal clients (operations/fund accounting) based in multiple locations to ensure relevant and authentic data is updated in Kondor and Geneva.
• Conduct reconciliation of Geneva and Kondor vs. Bloomberg for report creation. Ensure CSM \[Central Security Master\], Kondor and Geneva (Internal Applications used by Globe Op applications data) were in alignment.
• Collaborate with implementation team during the roll out of a New Client on the GlobeOp's Platform. Interface with client’s for resolving any issues pertaining to securities set up in Kondor & Geneva.

Analyst at DEUTSCHE BANK
  • India - Mumbai
  • December 2009 to April 2012

Analyst, FISOS (Fixed Income Securities Operation Services) Euroclear Settlements, Deutsche Bank, December 2009 to April 2012
• Oversaw trade settlements between the bank and clients in the corporate with regards to bonds/equities. Released payments on the basis of information from LCH (London Clearing House) for margin calls.
• Working on Failing & Short trades, investigating on the reasons for failing or short of securities & work till settling of trade in the market.
• Co-ordinating with Agent, Trader, M.O, Counterparties & Clients to match trdaes and resolve querries concernig with settlement.
• Working on FOP (Free of Payment) trades from start to end (from pre-matching till the settlement of the trade in the market)
• Conducted investigation to determine the reasons for a trade to fail and devised suitable actions to settle the trade in the market. Updated expertise in Swifts ( MT 599 & MT 299).
• Facilitated borrowing of bonds. Conducted extensive research on pending and failing trades of FOP (Free of Payment) to find solution for the same.
• Estimated accurate cash funding on behalf of the cash management personnel on the basis of MO on a need basis.

• Managed unsuccessful trades like NMATS (Trade not yet matched in the market) & SHORTS (Trade matched but DB or Counterparty is short on securities to deliver to the receiving party).
• Assumed responsibility for overseeing Nostro (Cash) & Depot (Stock) breaks while determining the causes for the breaks and devised solutions to rectify them.
• Handled a mandatory recall report with emphasis on settling trade DB borrows bonds from Euro clear Bank which have to be delivered back after a particular duration while simultaneously Euro clear bank provides recall report.
• Communicated with client’s through Bloomberg to resolve discrepancies. Provided training to new joiners.
• Received “star performer” award for outstanding performance at Deutsche bank in 2010

Associate at STATE STREET SYNTEL SERVICES PVT LTD
  • India - Mumbai
  • April 2008 to December 2009

Fund Accountant, State Street Syntel Services Pvt Ltd, April 2008 to December 2009

Project Handled

Project 1: London Shared Services (LSS)

Description
• The objective of the project was to facilitate the delivery of daily reconciliation - maintaining/resolving accounting for functions in client’s portfolio and briefing the clients on the same.

Responsibilities:
• Ensuring that holdings and cash are correctly accounted for, by performing cash and holdings reconciliations to the Investment Manager.
• Confirming all price movements which breach previously set tolerances to an external source such as Reuters or Bloomberg.
• Checking that all Corporate Actions, including dividends, have been processed correctly by confirming to both the Investment Manager and an external source, such as Bloomberg.
• Processing of all fees (accruals and payments) onto the relevant accounting system, whether fixed or percentage based.
• Confirm all interest has been accrued for correctly and process payments where necessary.
• Perform reconciliations to the Investment Manager to ensure that the payable and receivables in regards to trades are correct.
• Book all currency contracts (i.e. Spot & Forwards) based on information received on the trade file from the Investment Manager.
• Send completed reports to the Investment Manager for approval.
• Once approved, NAV is distributed to all interested parties. (i.e. Bloomberg, Investor Service etc)
• Presenting MIS on weekly basis & sending it over to senior Management officials all over the glob.
• Interacting with Client Service Representative in UK & US operation to resolve queries and follow up with the issue as per escalation matrix.

Education

Master's degree, Finance / Derivatives
  • at Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India
  • November 2012

CFA - majorly into Derivatives, Fixed Income, Swaps, Equities, Futures & Options , Portfolio Management, Private Equity, Venture Capital

Bachelor's degree, Commerce
  • at University of Mumabi
  • March 2008

Majorly into Accounts, Taxation, Economics

Specialties & Skills

Languages

Hindi
Expert
Malayalam
Expert
Marathi
Expert
English
Expert
Dutch
Beginner
Arabic
Intermediate

Training and Certifications

Agile Certified Practitioner (Certificate)
Date Attended:
December 2020
Valid Until:
December 2023
Professional Scrum Master Product Owner (Certificate)
Date Attended:
October 2020
Prince 2 Practitioner (Certificate)
Date Attended:
October 2020
Valid Until:
October 2023
Project Management Professional (Certificate)
Date Attended:
October 2020
Valid Until:
October 2023
IELTS (Certificate)
Date Attended:
September 2020
Valid Until:
September 2022
Certified Scrum Master (CSM) (Certificate)
Date Attended:
September 2020
Valid Until:
September 2022
PRINCE2 FOUNDATION (Certificate)
Date Attended:
September 2020
Professional Scrum Master 1 (PSM 1) (Certificate)
Date Attended:
September 2020

Hobbies

  • Dancing and Finance