Kamran Akhtar

 Start-up fintech enabler company offering cutting edge tech solutions to financial institutions across the GCC.
 Multi-faceted role including full finance function and HR responsibility, Board Secretarial responsibility, support for capital raising and Series A funding, contract reviews and sign offs with third party providers and clients, managed all legal and regulatory Filings.
 In addition to the corporate responsibilities, and as with many start-up companies the role involves stepping away from your job title and associated role.
 In view of this I have been a true business partner to the CEO and involved in strategic support including project management and delivery of corporate banking solutions to client, business development for new service offerings, business plan development, performance management set up including designing core KPIs in addition to designing pitch decks and marketing material.

Established PMO and developed divisional level project plans for an Operational Readiness Programme for new JV refinery between an International Oil major and the Government owned Oil Company in Saudi Arabia. This project included setting up a PMO to oversee the cross functional master plan. This master plan was then broken down to develop corporate, functional and department level performance dashboards to track and measure performance for over 100 individual projects with in the refinery.

Worked as an integral part of the project team to deliver a new integrated planning and performance management system across Saudi Aramco. This involved a wholesale change to the business wide planning and performance management process affecting over 3, 000 employees. Changes were introduced to the corporate scorecards (at a corporate and tiered level), the processes involved in data collection for the planning process, data reporting methods (including standardised reporting deliverables) as well as a change in the systems used as part of the performance and planning process
▪ Led the IPO Readiness programme for Aramco. This involved setting up a cross-departmental PMO and liaising with the various consultants brought in by Aramco management for the IPO.

Supported Forte Oil in Nigeria with the acquisition of 51% equity in a power generation plant as part of the Government’s privatization programme. Developed the acquisition strategy in conjunction with the Chairman of the Company including reviewing and monitoring the strategic model built using Government agreed power purchase prices. Led the sourcing of potential O&M contract partners through personal networks and sourced the Chinese State Grid Company. Reviewed financing agreements and enabled discussions with Standard Chartered Bank in Nigeria to obtain loan funding as part of acquisition structure.
▪ Implemented a new asset management business model for the Buildings Department within the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu. After a successful pilot and diagnostic, a change programme across initiated across 9 Operating & Maintenance contracts. Using a Lean methodology, KPI’s include improved productivity by over 80%, increased first time fix rates by 76% and reduced the overall maintenance lead time by over 63%. The focus also was introducing a continuous performance improvement culture to improve existing processes and performance.

the Bahrain office, to strengthen the finance function performance improvement service offering. Key contributions include:
•Created a more streamlined, less bureaucratic structure with fewer layers of management for the finance function of Riyadh Bank. Thereby, successfully reducing workforce by 30% without disturbing continuity of operations and improving overall internal client satisfaction.
•Completed the successful $200-million liquidation of First Investment bank, achieving a primary goal of maximising shareholder value and settling outstanding creditor balances.
•Streamlined and improved the financial reporting close process for a listed telecoms provider, Sudan Telecom, spanning 13 different jurisdictions; reducing the monthly (23 days) and annual (67+) reporting timeframe to 10 and 30 days respectively.

Led the financial control function for the Real Estate & Non-Performing Loans team. Responsible for the financial, management and regulatory reporting for over 400 legal entities within the function. Also responsible for monitoring and ensuring compliance with statutory reporting deadlines and requirements. Key contributions include:
•Ensure all financial control requirements including, monthly management accounts, annual financial statements and statutory filing are met on time and delivered effectively and efficiently
•Led initiative to review dormant entities within group structure and develop a standardised process to liquidate companies and funds no longer needed as part of operations.

Oversaw all financial reporting, MIS, FSA reporting, budgeting, payroll, treasury, fx and fund (NAV) reporting for US$ 6 billion structured credit asset manager. Member of the Executive Team responsible for major strategic initiatives such as new fund launches, fund raising and joint ventures. Key contributions include:
•Managed finance team of five direct reports encompassing financial reporting, FSA compliance, financial planning and analysis, MIS and Board reporting, budget preparation and consolidation, HR including payroll and managing the accounts payable and receivable process.
•Established stronger financial reporting capability and developed multi-company financial accounting and reporting systems to consolidate various international subsidiaries and holding companies.
•Created over US$ 2.5 million in first year revenue through the launch of a new fund structuring service offering. Project managed a portfolio of several fund launches from inception, to the appointment of service providers through to developing bespoke investment strategies with investment managers
•Developed the Treasury fx management strategy by introducing the use of an on-line fx trading platform which resulted in cost savings of US$1.2 million through tightening of spot fx spreads.
•Instrumental in securing a US$250 million debt re-financing achieving the primary objective of the continued operation of the main fee generating SIV platform.
•Played key role in diversifying business and positioning company for growth through support of 3 strategic partnerships in 2 years, including developing the “Lehman’s Managed Account Platform”. This was a pioneering venture introduced by Lehman Brothers, whereby clients could open a segregated account within the Lehman Brothers framework and benefit from the protections and controls this offers, whilst the management of the account would be via Eiger Capital.

year-on-year with this Big 4 firm, to serve as advisor to publicly and privately held large commercial clients, supervising teams of accountants on multiple projects, including audits and acquisition reviews. Initially involved in performing audits of banks and other financial institutions, conduct feasibility studies, and review loan origination and credit review procedures. Key contributions include:

•Prepared financial statements from trial balance through to statutory filing.
•Planned, implemented and field managed the audits of global companies with t/o up to US$500 million.
•Detected anomalies and providing wider assurance and insights into the client's business, often identifying the cause of problems, not just occurrence.
•Analysed business performance for clients: benchmarking against peer companies and best practice.
•Communicating critical and often complex material to all levels of client personnel.
•Focused on the quality of key controls and systems within organisations, with particular regard to their effective operation, and financial viability.